To celebrate National Poetry Day 2020 on Friday 21 August, Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum is calling for poetry submissions for Tāmaki Poems, a community-generated, online poetry project inspired by a map of Auckland drawn up by Leslie Kelly in 1940.
Writers of all ages and backgrounds from across the city are invited to write new poems inspired by place, heritage and identity pertaining to Auckland, and pin them to an online version of a new map in the lead-up to the opening of Tāmaki Herenga Waka – Stories of Auckland, Auckland Museum’s new permanent gallery due to open in early 2021.
The TAMAKI – MAKAU – RAU map describing the Auckland isthmus was made drawn in 1940, and while some of its place names still appear (in some form) on Auckland’s road signs but many have disappeared into history. Auckland in 1940 was a very different place (already much changed in the hundred years since its founding in 1840), and this map provides an historical insight into significant places, important events and the people who made Tāmaki Makaurau home over centuries.
Viewers to the site are encouraged to zoom in and explore the original map to locate different places that they’ve visited, worked or played, and to gain some understanding of the layers of history within their city. Some stories are obvious in the map, and others are brought to life by clues in kupu Māori (Māori words) describing their features or history. Other stories will be only known by a few special people.
Poetry can be written on any subject but must include at least one place name or place marker from Auckland. This can be a suburb, a street name, the name of a building or a park – even a river or motorway. Whatever the subject of the poem, it will tell a story about the person who has written it, as well as the time and place it was written. These kinds of poems are about place, therefore, have the potential to be much deeper than a simple label on a map ever could be.
Tāmaki Poems will help to reflect diverse cultural identities in one of the most interesting cities in the world. An online version of this map will show pin locations of where in Auckland the Tāmaki Poems feature.
The Tāmaki Poems webpage will be open for submissions until Sunday 21 February 2021. After that, submissions will be closed and this webpage will remain as an online archive revealing how Aucklanders feel, think and write about the place they love.
For more information and to make poetry submissions email tamakipoems@aucklandmuseum.com or visit: www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/tamaki-poems
Media Contact:
Bex Martelletti – Publicist
Auckland War Memorial Museum
Email: bmartelletti@aucklandmuseum.com
Phone: 021 955 362