Best Awards Purple Pin Winner 2020 – Extended Whanau

Despite interruptions, 2020 was a stellar year for the Best awards. GSM takes a look at the 2020 Supreme Purple Pin winner…

The prestigious Purple Pin is the Designer’s Institute of New Zealand highest honour in the Best Awards. In 2020, DINZ awarded it to Auckland studio, Extended Whānau, for their project, Ōtairongo. Extended Whānau created the work to promote and support the exhibition,  Ōtairongo, by kiwi sound artist Maree Sheehan.

The Brief

The brief was to design a visual identity for the exhibition. The design needed to reflect the aim of the artist. This was to interpret and represent the identity of wāhine Māori through immersive audio-portraiture, experienced within the realm of Hine Raukatauri (the Māori goddess of flute music).

In nature, the case moth portrays Hine Raukatauri. While, in traditional Māori crafts, the pūtōrino instrument reflects her cocoon shape.
This contemporary take on Hine Raukatauri aims to reflect the audio energy of Ōtairongo. Extended Whānau captured this in a single long-exposure photograph of a wahine standing at the centre, spinning a series of LEDs. This created a 360° performance that weaves a reverberating cocoon of light.

In response to the pandemic, the artist also created an online exhibition experience to give people the opportunity to listen to the audio portraits from home.

The project not only pushes the boundaries of contemporary Māori art but marks a change in design communication in Aotearoa.

Commentary

The judges at Best provided the following comment on the winning entry;

‘An absolutely stunning and breath taking piece of work, original in its thinking and striking in its execution, a truly contemporary take on culture. This project has depth and layers of thinking with an authentic connection to traditional storytelling. Combine that with a fresh and beautifully crafted visual execution, Ōtairongo moves a visual language forward in leaps and bounds.’

Project details:

PROJECT:      Ōtairongo
CATEGORY:   Design Communication
CREATIVE:     Extended Whānau
CLIENT:          Maree Sheehan, Artspace Aotearoa
PEOPLE:        Tyrone Ohia (Creative Director), Maree Sheehan, Viv Teo, Emiko Sheehan, Rosabel Tan, Nigel Borell, Toaki Okano, Rob Lewis, Dexter Edwards, Jamie Bichan (Contributors:) Dr. Te Rita Bernadette Papesch, Moana Maniapoto, Ramon Te Wake, Tui Matira-Ransfield, Jane Hakaraia,
Hemi Kelly, Artspace Aotearoa, Auckland Arts Festival
PRINT:           Soar Print
STOCK:          + BJ Ball Advance Laser 120gsm: Poster
+ BJ Ball Advance Laser 350gsm: Cards
PRINT SPEC:  CMYK offset printed

GSM would like to extend our thanks to the Designers Institute of New Zealand in compiling this article.

The 2021 Best Awards will be announced on the 8th October. For more details click here

This article was originally published in GSM16. To read this and other great articles purchase this issue here.