✨Robyn Kahukiwa - Sparkle Bomb✨

Sparkle Bomb is one of Home Ground's most special kaupapa, created in honour of our beloved co-founder Anita, our forever Sparkle Bomb Queen, and made possible by the generous support of the Patil family.

Designed for wāhine impacted by the justice system or navigating big life challenges, Sparkle Bomb brings us together through creative workshops, community connection, and the kind of magic that happens when people feel truly seen.

This year's five weeks were full of crowns, tears, laughter, purākau, taonga puoro and more sparkle than we knew what to do with. We were joined by three extraordinary artists - Maungarongo Te Kawa, Te Kahureremoa, and Māni, alongside the legendary Robyn Kahukiwa, whose mahi will forever be so powerful for all of us.

This is our reflection on what we made, what we felt, and what we're carrying forward.

For Anita. Always. 💖

Day five of Sparkle Bomb! We took the crew to Pātaka Museum in Porirua - and into the presence of the legendary māreikura, Robyn Kahukiwa.

Her mahi cracked something open in all of us.

The disconnection we carry as Māori in a colonised world. The fierce, beautiful stories of atua wāhine. Our sparkle bomb wāhine summed up the exhibition perfectly - beauty, pain, honour, connection, fierce, gorgeous, relevant, insightful. Wow.

After our very own curator talk, we took time to sit with it all - reflecting through writing, drawing, charcoal, pastels, watercolour. A beautiful way to process what we'd experienced, surrounded by the taonga Robyn has gifted the world and the deep stories inside every piece.

Home Ground artist standing in front of Robyn Kahukiwa's paintingThe Choice.

It was awesome getting the whānau out of our usual Newtown digs and into the community. Pātaka looked after us well - the manaaki was on, and so was the kai from Samoa's finest. Nothing beats panakeke and chop suey to fuel the puku and the soul.

Special mihi to Pātaka and their incredible curator, Ioana Gordon-Smith. Thank you for supporting our kaupapa - you made space for something really special. Robyn's mahi, and the way we all spoke to it, opened up a lot for our crew, and gave us room to reflect and connect in a way that will stay with us.

One of our Sparkle Bomb crew wrote this in response to Robyn's mahi toi:

WOMAN 

I am a woman who is angry. My hands remember reverence. One day I will rise and soar. She taught me I have warrior blood. I am still here because I'm not done here yet.

Thank you Robyn. For teaching us to face the fire and the tsunami. For showing us the world is political and wāhine toa are fierce and beautiful. For teaching us to stand in our truth regardless of what goes on around us. To bring the light. To be grounded in who we are.

Art work reflecting on Robyn's mahi and our Pataka experience. Artwork by SP.