Onion pickers celebrated in art - come see the exhibition
What is an iconic image that makes you think of Pukekohe?
For many of us it is onion pickers, backs bent over the brown soil in the surrounding fields.
Now this annual part of our rural heritage has been celebrated in art.
Iokapeta Magele-Suamasi has contributed Onion Picker, a mixed media installation which is a centrepiece to the Heterodox Us exhibition at the Franklin Arts Centre.
For many school holidays in the 1970s and 1980s Magele-Suamasi would come with her parents and seven siblings to toil in the onion and potato fields around Franklin.
It has left an indelible memory, which she transformed into an artwork which has in turn evoked memories and started conversations among gallery visitors.
Two rows of onion sacks run through the gallery, each emblazoned with anecdotes shared by Magele-Suamasi’s siblings when she told them she was creating this work.
They capture the hard work of picking: ‘‘Everything and everyone smells like onions’’; ‘‘and then the sound of onion clippers all day until sunset’’ but also the sense of family and togetherness that the days of picking brought: ‘‘glass gallon bottles filled with orange cordial drinks’’ and ‘‘pain, endurance, teamwork, pride.’’
Come in and see the exhibition for yourself:
Heterodox Us
Franklin Arts Centre, Pukekohe
Runs till June 18
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Poll: Should we ditch daylight saving? 🕰️
First introduced in New Zealand in 1927 with the passing of the Summer Time Act, it's what we know as 'Daylight Saving' and this year it ends on the first Sunday in April.
While we do get to sleep in this time around, some people would like to scrap the clock tinkering for good.
And why? Some evidence suggests the time changes are bad for our health as they mess with sleep patterns leading to short-term fatigue and affecting mood. Meanwhile the hour change is frustrating for farmers and a nightmare for getting the littlies to sleep. But what's your take?
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0% Yes - get rid of the clock changes
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0% No, I enjoy it
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0% Other - I'll share below
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