YES Disability Resource Centre Gifts Vaka Tautua Art Work

The YES Disability Resource Centre team, with Chief Executive Officer, Sonia Thursby, fourth from the left (photo courtesy of YES Disability)

Vaka Tautua has been gifted photographic art from the YES Disability Resource Centre in Albany to mark the two organisation’s enduring relationship. The three pieces are part of YES Disability’s 2019 “Re-Imagine: Voyager” exhibition which explored culture and cultural identity.

“We wanted to give Vaka Tautua a piece because of our relationship… and these pieces with Kramer and Nia because of the connections,” says YES Disability Chief Executive Officer, Sonia Thursby.

Kramer Hoeflich, who features in two of the pieces is Vaka Tautua’s Auckland disability team leader and on YES Disability’s national I-Lead committee. Lavinia Lovo, who features in the third piece, is a I.Lead youth facilitator and executive member of the Tōfā Mamao Collective, which is based at Vaka Tautua’s Manukau office.

 Vaka Tautua Chief Executive Officer, Dr Amanda-Lanuola Dunlop, says she is overwhelmed by YES Disability’s generosity. The delayed handing over of the pieces due to the COVID-19 lockdowns last year only made things more special.

Kramer Hoeflich with the three piece gifted to Vaka Tautua

“We are blessed to have been gifted these beautiful pieces, which reflect the strength of our young Pacific disabled peoples, their cultures and cultural identities,” says Dr Dunlop.

The purpose of YES Disability’s Re-Imagine photographic series is to challenge perceptions, and the stigma around disability in Pacific communities, particularly in relation to young disabled peoples. The 2019 Voyager series was its second exhibition, and the 15 pieces exhibited in locations and arts spaces across Auckland. Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni, has a piece hanging in her parliamentary office.

Mr Hoeflich, who featured in the exhibition, says the whole experience was uplifting.

“It was a great experience… being able to create a meaningful piece of art that showcases how I see myself and my culture,” says Mr Hoeflich.

“It was also powerful to see my peers’ finished work, and their take on the same task. I was taken back by the amazing infusion of our cultures throughout the pieces.”

The pieces will hang in the Vaka Tautua Head Office in Manukau, and Wellington office in Porirua.

Vaka Tautua is a national Pacific health and disability and social services provider with a strong regional presence in the greater Auckland, Wellington, and Canterbury regions. It delivers disability, mental health, older peoples, social services, and financial capability services.

For all enquiries, please email: comms@vakatautua.co.nz