Mural Masterpieces - Arohanui Special School

Location:
Arohanui Special School, Tirimoana Road, Te Atatu South, Auckland.

Team:
Thomas Metui, Filipo Soma, Amy Hall, Catherine Setu, Barbara Bidois, Marcel Laycock, Fakalaloa Laveki, John Sait, Lance Grange co-ordinated by Stephanie Sheldon.

Accessible to public:
Yes.

Mural theme:
Self Portraits of Team Members.

Background to mural creation:
Arohanui Special School is a state school that caters to students aged between 5 and 21 years with intellectual and multiple disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder. The school is sited on ten sites across West Auckland.

The works featured on the murals have been created by students from classes across the school. As a first step to producing the mural all the students sketched their self-portraits. They then painted their self-portraits on card to accustom them to handling paint. Next they collaged the mural panel using fabric, clothes and cork and finally the whole panel was painted with exterior paint.

The mural was designed to reflect what is important about Arohanui Special School - the students themselves.