Project Tahi
OBJECTIVE
Define our own creative identity and who we want to be
PROCESS
Use creative processes to engage, nurture trust and build strong foundations
OUTCOME
There is a clear understanding of our own creative process, and a set of personalised creative tools to help us shape our future
Project Tahi 2022
Project Tahi was the first Home Ground project to be held fully online, with participants, artists and Home Ground crew holding online video check-ins, and sharing their artworks with each other in an online Google Classroom. Find out how we used creative arts practice like photography, creative writing, clay work and music as a non-threatening, strengths-based approach to self-empowerment, community connectedness and wellbeing – virtually!
“Home Ground is such an enterprising, innovative opportunity for all women to unite and grow, in a safe place of creative awareness and care”
- Project Tahi 2021 Participant
Project Tahi 2021
Project Tahi ran in March and April 2021. It was a creativity and wellbeing programme in the community for women on probation, community sentence and recently released from prison.
Through learning about different ways of making art, participants created a mixed media exhibition of their experiences during Project Tahi. The exhibition involved a photography exhibition, an installation of work we had made including a giant Lei, a soundscape, as well as a short workshop led by the participants. This was presented to probation staff, representatives of the Pasifika Hub, and artists in the final week of Project Tahi.
A common theme for the participants was wanting to learn new art forms. This also included new ways to express themselves and new strategies for wellbeing. They also wanted to increase self-confidence in their daily lives.
We advocated for the importance of creativity and the arts, the value of ‘nothing about us without us’, and the importance of truly listening to women who created powerful artworks based on their lived experience.
“I feel it has helped me and could help a lot of others going through rough patches in their lives”
- Project Tahi 2021 Participant
Project Tahi 2020
Where we come from makes us who we are.
Ko wai au? Who am I?
Project Tahi 2020 was about carving our name into a space, and carving our space into the world. This short film was made in Wellington in response to the question, Ko wai au? Who am I?
This piece stands for our needs, that we have the right to exist. It identifies our uniqueness.
Everybody who comes into Home Ground identifies with our table, and everybody has a name. We are born worthy, our names are our gifts from our tipuna. Wherever you go, there is a legacy behind you.
The song ‘Wainuiatea’ represents our ancestors, but also the forgotten women, the stories not told. The women not talked about, the women in prison.
What is Home Ground? It is a safe place to express ourselves.
“Every day was different and hit on subjects that I had held in for so long and mattered a lot – baggage that was heavy became lighter.”
Project Tahi
2020
Project Tahi 2020 delivered a creativity and wellbeing programme in the community for women on probation, community sentence and recently released from prison.
This project put into practice our discoveries from the Kahukura pilot programme, and supported women’s exploration into creativity and arts practice (visual arts, theatre, kapa haka, music, etc), while building a strong working group.
Nine women experienced a range of arts practice over eight weeks, then had the opportunity to further explore the art forms they were particularly interested in.
Through their work they created a mixed media exhibition of their individual experiences during Project Tahi. They also rehearsed a spoken presentation to tell the story of their creativity. This was presented to whānau, Corrections staff, friends, community groups, artists and funders in the final week.
Through these arts-based events we were able to highlight the importance of community connection post-release, and support women to use existing services.
We created positive opportunities for artists’ engagement and community support with the key theme of ‘strength through connectedness’.
We advocated the importance of creativity and the arts, the value of ‘nothing about us without us’, and the worth of hearing and truly listening to women who created powerful artworks based on their lived experience.
“I think the beauty of this project is that although it is collaborative, it also works on a deeply personal level, unique to each individual without the project being designed on an individual level.”
JOIN THE NEXT PROJECT
Email kiaora@homegroundnz.com
or talk to your case manager or probation officer.