Waimalie Rupene

This short film was created using a range of Visual Effects techniques and skills, including simulations, rendering, and compositing. It focuses on the atua of the repo (wetland) as she shows us what's beneath the murky water. I've drawn inspiration from a range of sources, including pūrākau, contemporary māori artists, and personal experiences.

As Māori deities, atua are used as personifications of our environments. They are a way for us to integrate ourselves with te taiao. From atua like Parawhenuamea all the way down to Taniwhā (spirit/monster) like Poutini, they all represent a facet of our taiao (environment). Their connection to the environment is told through pūrākau, a traditional form of narrative storytelling. Using pūrākau and atua, I answer the question What does the wetland represent? What ancestral knowledge does it hold? And, what does it mean to my whānau?