Sculptor shapes Disney 'marae'

How Walt Disney would popularise Maori culture was the inspiration behind Inez Crawford's Bouncy Marae sculpture.

The 3m by 6m brown and pink wharenui is based on an inflatable bouncy castle.

"I am making a comment. It's not derogatory. It's not a protest. It's to make people think.

And because I am Maori and my whakapapa goes back to Te Whanau a Apanui, I think that people see it as a valid commentary," she said.

"It's about cultural consumption. Taking something we're familiar with, like the bouncy castle, and adding an indigenous twist to it. Dressing up my culture to make it more easily consumed.

"If Walt Disney had got hold of my culture he might have built one, too," she said.

"I designed it and had a company called Canvasland, in Wellington, fabricate it. It took them from March to October last year.

"They had to get the fabric from Switzerland, because they usually do corporate stuff and they didn't have any stocks of brown and pink fabric.

"I could have bought a brand-new car for what it cost me," she groaned.

Crawford said she was "ecstatic" the marae was featuring in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery during the Otago Festival of the Arts.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get something in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. I thought that would be part of my 10-year plan."

The 42-year-old former hair and make-up artist on films such as Lord of the Rings completed a four-year bachelor of fine arts degree in sculpture at the Otago School of Fine Arts last year.

The marae was the centrepiece of her final-year "Kaihokohoko Tanga" exhibition and was debuted at the art school end-of-year "Site" exhibition last November.

"You get taught so well there that after four years you feel like you can do just about anything."

She now runs a company with two of her nieces in Rotorua, Too Luscious, making New Zealand jewellery.

Crawford said she had been surprised at the response to her marae.

"It's nice to be able to express my culture in a way that crosses a lot of boundaries. Maori really get it. We had a hui up here with it earlier this year and it was great all the people who were coming up and saying how much they liked it.

"It's been a bit of a hit in Auckland and Christchurch, too," she said.

"But I think kids really get it the most. They activate it. They're not restrained and they ask questions about it."

Inez Crawford's Bouncy Marae is being exhibited at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery until November 2 as part of the Otago Festival of the Arts.