Guitar picks everywhere
From the starting point of our first flat in Herne Bay, Tamāki Makaurau Auckland, where guitar picks were easily spotted between crevices and corners, our journey has been continuous. We were artists on a mission or as others might say, people with no money trying to enjoy life. I was writing on other people’s projects but intent on producing my own work, although not really having much success. Kingsley Spargo was a musician, a multi-instrumentalist, performing in several bands including his own ensembles: Spargo and Brassouls. He was prolific in output and driven in such a way that made me question my creative practice. He would spend almost every waking moment writing material, practising and performing whereas I spent a lot of time conceptualising poems, short prose and scripts. Meaning I was gaming on old school retro systems, heading out for coffee to solve the world’s ills over flat whites and long blacks. It takes time for ideas to seed, before they take and develop. I would sit on an idea for months, floating on the conceptual plane, throwing it around like a solitary game of catch before its manifestation it in the physical world. I had works ‘in-progress’ everywhere, they matched the guitar picks strewn throughout the flat. While Kingsley had completed albums, appeared in shows and was touring, I resembled a picture of the gardener pruning a bonsai plant, painstakingly rearranging the letters on the page until there was some semblance with the idea that spurred me to write in the first place.
So here we are, sharing our works and the projects we have created. The upcoming art gallery lua fā fitu will finally launch next year, our mission to champion and showcase Moana and Māori art. The incredible sound design and music from Kingsley Spargo, the writing of Kim Meredith focused on the Moana zeitgeist will find a home here. Moana hub, a platform of sharing knowledge and resources, a collaboration of the Moana spirit, a safe space of nurturing and support, calls out to our creatives. Afio mai, welcome to our space.
Kim Meredith & Kingsley Spargo. Sept 2022
