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
Poll: As a customer, what do you think about automation?
The Press investigates the growing reliance on your unpaid labour.
Automation (or the “unpaid shift”) is often described as efficient ... but it tends to benefit employers more than consumers.
We want to know: What do you think about automation?
Are you for, or against?
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9.2% For. Self-service is less frustrating and convenient.
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43.7% I want to be able to choose.
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47.1% Against. I want to deal with people.
Thames Branch NZ Society of Genealogists
Our genealogy adventures begin with us and what we know. Learn how to take the research journey back in time with like-minded people. Come along to the Thames Branch NZ Society of Genealogists monthly meeting, every 3rd Wednesday of the month. All welcome.
Purple Poppy Day Saturday 21st February
Thames Museum Te Whare Taonga o te Kauaeranga is delighted to be working with Thames RSA to hold our town’s first Purple Poppy Day on 21st February. Purple Poppy day is held throughout the Commonwealth to honour the animals that served and died during WWI and WWII and continue to serve in current conflicts.
Our inaugural Purple Poppy Day features creatures from glowworms and pigeons to camels and elephants.
The competition on the day, PEOPLE AND PETS WEAR PURPLE and/or KHAKI is a fun way to get involved, with lots of neat prizes.
PEOPLE AND PETS WEAR PURPLE and/or KHAKI will be held weather permitting. All other activities will take place inside the museum is the weather isn’t so good.
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