'This is a dream project for me, being able to connect with locals, the community, people. It's the heart of what I do,” says acclaimed artist Graham ‘Mr G' Hoete.
The Tauranga Moana artist, of Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngāti Ranginui descent, is currently collaborating with Farmlands on a largescale art project which has been dubbed ‘HeART of the Community'.
Graham says this year he'll be producing large, locally-inspired murals on 15 of the rural supply chain's stores which aim to promote community pride in rural towns throughout New Zealand.
'Farmlands approached me while I was working on the Prince mural in Minnesota, they must've seen me on TV and I guess they liked what I was doing and thought ‘we need to collaborate with this Mr G guy',” he says with a laugh.
Earlier in May, Graham completed the first of the 15 murals on the side of Farmlands Paeroa on Grey St, and says he worked with local Paeroa staff and stakeholders on how it should look.
He explains an important aspect for him was making sure the mural featured the name ‘Paeroa', because when translated into English it means ‘long ridge'.
'When you look around Paeroa that's all you see, an imposing, awesome ridge stamping its presence. That was the main inspiration for me, and it was surprising how many of the locals didn't know what Paeroa meant, so it's cool to be kind of educating people too.
'The mural also highlights how crucial a role the horses played historically in town during the 1800s, Clydesdales, draught horses and the like.”
With the Paeroa mural now done and dusted, Graham will be heading south to Invercargill to repeat the process, followed by Putaruru in the Waikato.
And if Invercargill and Putaruru are anything like what Graham experienced in Paeroa, he'll be a very happy man.
'I had little kids yelling out to me ‘hey mister, watch me do a wheelie', a 93-year-old ask me to spray paint her walker, a Māori guy from the Coromandel brought me a punnet of mussels he collected while diving, there was one guy I talked to who was like a fourth-generation horseman and farrier.
'It was a real privilege to meet these people. Small town New Zealand has this precious dynamic about it and it's really cool to be able to connect with that.”