Te Ramaroa set to turn Nelson into a city of dazzling light

The stars are out for Nelson’s Te Ramaroa light festival.

A collaboration between Victory Primary School students and RMM landscape architects will see the Matariki constellation come to life in the Queens Garden pond, with nine lighted cones covered with students’ artwork appearing to hover over the water below colourful stars.

It is one of the 40 installations around central Nelson for the free festival which switches on at 5.30pm on Friday for five nights. Among highlights are giant stalactites in Albion Square, a huge flower pot at the top of the Church Steps, a “giggle” tree that encourages laughter, and an immersive, interactive laser experience in the cathedral gardens.

A number of city buildings, including the Christ Church Cathedral, will have weird and wonderful light shows projected on them.

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For the Matariki piece, Victory teacher and artist Lynda Duncan said students from across the school researched the different stars of the constellation and created drawings to reflect their characteristics.

For example, the star Te Puarangi is associated with life and food in trees, so the images were of birds and insects. The drawings were transferred to stickers attached to the polycarbonate cones that sit in the pond.

Duncan said she was impressed by the students coming up with their own ideas to reflect how Matariki belongs to everyone – the drawings included figures from Hindu and Myanmar cultures.

“It not only has aspects of te ao Māori but has aspects of all of us,” she said. “It makes it a real, living piece of art.”

Duncan said Te Ramaroa was an important way for community-based groups to be involved in the arts, and the festival also literally brought light to winter and in tough economic times.

“To get people out and about in our community at night and celebrating our town that’s an important contribution.”

Other groups which have contributed works to the festival include NMIT Te Pūkenga art and media students, the Cultural Conversations crochet group, Nelson architectural graduates, scientists, artists and dentists.

They are supplemented by pieces from some of the country’s top light-installation designers.

Upper Trafalgar St will be the focal point of the festival, with installations around the cathedral, a stage for musicians and performers and food vendors. A food hub will be based in Kirby Lane.