NIA-VAL NGARO

For the past 15 years, Nia-Val Ngaro has been a community artist and teacher. A natural facilitator, Nia-Val’s abilities to listen and engage budding artists has compelled her to leave her own practice in the background in order to facilitate community art programmes in Mangere, Glen Innes, and at adult and youth correction facilities.

Being the eighth generation of storytellers in her family, it’s the story that fills her practice. Nia-Val’s stories most often relate to her Aitutaki/Cook

Mama Rite

Islands genealogy and heritage. The stories begin with her family, such as a photograph of her father’s mother, the family matriarch who instilled strong Aitutaki values in the family that lives in New Zealand, where Nia-Val was born.

Nia-Val’s Pukapuka connection on her mother’s side created the opportunity for her to facilitate a Pukapukan tivaevae group in South Auckland. Over the 3 years she introduced new techniques to the group of 40, Nia-Val was inspired by the Mamas and the amazing tivaevae they created together. Those Pukapukan Mamas became the inspiration for superheroes in a graphic novel. Nia-Val initiated Te Tala o Mamas XL in Danger Island as a means of bridging the generational gap between Cook Islands-born and New Zealand-born.

Te Tala o Mamas

Te Tala o Mamas shows the beautiful side of the older generation in a presentation that youth can appreciate and enjoy reading. With her cousin, Grace Lazaro illustrating, they carefully included distinctly Pukapukan symbols such as hair-combs and flora. Upon seeing initial sketches, the Mamas were honoured by the portrayals.

In 2009, Nia-Val completed a public sculpture project in Glen Innes by meeting with seven community groups to figure out a way to reflect their stories and the positive elements of Glen Innes such as its cultural diversity. Those dedicated community groups provided inspiration for the public sculpture that reflects the groups’ constant endeavours to restore optimism and confidence in the community. Using the example of Native American totems, which stand tall and confident, Nia-Val and the community groups created 7 totems that reflect the diversity and solidarity of Glen Innes. These projects reveal Nia-Val’s capacity for celebrating her culture and community by encouraging creative expressions.

Poles

In 2010, Nia-Val is taking a respite from teaching and facilitating to focus on her own practice and artisticexpression. Finally, she can dive into the piles of journals filled with countless pages of stories and visually tell those moments about her life and community. These will be realised through photography, painting, and sculpture, all of those practices that she has been teaching students to use