I remember when I first started painting kohatu 13 years ago – I would always start with the koru and then everything would flow from there. For a while, I did not sway from this, I was tūturu to the koru, the whakaaro behind the koru, it’s meaning, beauty, balanced shape, it was also very healing for me to paint.

But there are some things that after a while need to change. It’s a bit like our traditions and values that we hold on to so tightly because they guide us and teach us the right way of doing things and in many cases, this is THE way.
So this kōrero is about that – letting go of those beliefs because this is all we’ve known and this is what we’ve believed to be true for us. And after letting go, what remains is me… no imposed beliefs or values, just me. And in a sense we become the koru by stepping outside it’s boundaries. A new beginning, a new life…
So we start afresh, we gain another perspective, another horizon that offers us more than what we ever experienced before.
With new eyes, new ideas, a new way of being… therein lies potential. Potential to go beyond what is, potential to heal and really live. Really live.
And it is from this position I believe, this going outside the boundaries of culture and tradition that we can bring something different, that we can overcome those very things that keep us bound.

Change can only come from new perspectives, seeing outside our comfort zones and exploring new ways of doing things. But not without it’s risks or reactions; especially from those we look up to, from those who we respect and who respect us, so change not without risk of losing all that you hold dear. But only to become everything that you are and ultimately having the ability to share this with others.
Arohanui,
Jo x