He matapihi ki ngā whangonga Māori—A guide through Māori values
Ka puea ake he pae tukutuku hou—Summer scholar creates a new website.
This webstory is republished from The Living Pā blog.
Sustainability is at the heart of the build of the Living Pā—but what does this look like from a Māori worldview? We talked to summer scholar Jenny Gatehouse from the School of Design Innovation—Te Kura Hoahoa, who created a beautiful website to explain.
The website presents the connections between mātauranga Māori and sustainability clearly. The design won Jenny a Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Summer Gold Award for ‘Most engaging demonstration of research’.
“We wanted to support the wider university community to understand how mātauranga Māori principles relate to the Westernised idea of sustainability, by mapping the values together. The content highlights how these values will be reflected in the Living Pā,” says senior lecturer Tonya Sweet, who supervised the work alongside sustainability director Andrew Wilks.
The design of the website was collaborative, with content and advice provided by deputy head of the School of Design Innovation, David Hakaraia, and Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Mātauranga Māori) Meegan Hall and Living Pā Co-Project Manager Rhonda Thomson, both from the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori.
Jenny says that her aim was to create visuals that were a relatable, beautiful, and truthful representation of the ideas and values being discussed in the text provided to her.
“It was essential to me as someone raised in a pākehā household that I made sure my imagery was correct, respectful, and inclusive. I worked very hard to ensure my illustrations and animations correctly depicted the cultural values, with the support of David.”
The site reads from top to bottom, with menu items reflecting seven different aspects of mātauranga Māori. It is easy to use, and consideration was given to the use of illustration, with careful use of text explaining the values’ meaning and the audiences’ part to play. For each value, an animated video is provided, showing how the value can be applied in everyday life. The site goes on to explain how the University embodies each value in the development of the Living Pā.
Jenny’s favourite part of the site is the animation for the Whanaungatanga section, as she had to develop multiple iterations to generate an animation that appropriately reflected this value.
“I had been given, for each of the animations, a prompt outlining roughly what the animation should depict, but the initial suggestion of a depiction of the whole world connected by roots wasn’t working. I eventually talked with David and settled on a group planting trees showing the connection between people, the animals, and the place itself. The initial struggle made me appreciate the final product more.”
Jenny found it immensely valuable working with the expert wider group, as well as getting external eyes across her work periodically.
“Talking with Design lecturer Simon Ray I realised that the pictures were an optional part to support the words, and not the other way around. That pushed a huge wall aside for me, particularly in my goal to connect each value with what is happening on the Living Pā site.”
Jenny sees herself as a leaf on a vine in the process of communicating mātauranga Māori approaches and their relationship to sustainability goals. “My part was taking what had already been written by the experts and displaying it to make it more accessible to a wider audience.”
Tonya says she is proud of what Jenny achieved. “I hope that this website will allow non-indigenous communities to engage with the values embodied in the Living Pā in a respectful way.”