Celebrating the 125th anniversary of women's suffrage, Public Share hosted two social art events on key suffrage dates. On 19 September, the date New Zealand women won the right to vote, we shared tumblers made from clay donated by 16 female MPs. These tumblers were stamped with women’s suffrage dates from 190 countries around the world. Then on 28 November, to mark the date New Zealand women first voted, we shared stirrers made with clay collected from sites connected to two significant suffragists, Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia and Kate Sheppard. Alongside the stirrers we produced a newspaper, OVER TIME, with invited female writers asked to reflect on an issue they considered relevant to women’s rights in 2018.

OVER TIME, Pt.2

Civic Square, Te Ngākau, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington,

10:30am to 3:30pm, 28 November 2018

For OVER TIME, pt.2, Public Share made stirrers with clay collected from sites connected to two significant suffragists, Kate Sheppard and Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia. Visits to collect clay were made on the 15th of June to Kate Sheppard’s former residence in Ilam, Christchurch, and on 20th of October to Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia’s homestead at Whangapoua.

With this clay, we produced two lots of stirrers marked with either Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia or Kate Sheppard’s initials to signal the origin of the clay.Each stirrer was also stamped with 28 NOV 1893, the date that women first voted in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and a reminder of this suffrage anniversary event. On the other side, PS appears as a reference to our making and the OVER TIME project.

On Wednesday 28th November, Public Share installed a temporary public tea station in Civic Square, Te Whanganui-a -Tara, Wellington in a shipping container, along with a marquee and seating. Members of the public were invited to join us for a cuppa and to choose a stirrer, which they could use to make a cup of tea and take away. Gingernuts and reading material surrounding women’s suffrage in Aotearoa New Zealand were also made available alongside the OVER TIME newspaper, a publication produced by Public Share for the OVER TIME event. The intent was to echo shared workplace tearooms around the country, and to make an open invitation to the public to join us for their “10-minute tea break” to celebrate the anniversary of the day that women first voted.

A jar of white camellias was installed in the temporary tea station at Civic Square (in the container beside the stirrers). “In 1893 the suffragists had presented a white camellia flower to those members of the House of Representatives who had voted in favour of women gaining the vote. Those who had voted against were given a red camellia.” https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/43040/planting-a-kate-sheppard-camellia-1993

OVER TIME newspaper

Designed by Lucy Meyle

Supported by AUT Art & Design Research Fund

Published for and dated the 28th of November 2018, the newspaper was designed to accompany the OVER TIME, pt. 2 tea break event, featuring articles by eleven invited writers. The contributors (writers, artists, curators, academics, gardeners) were invited and commissioned by Public Share. They were all asked to reflect on an issue they consider relevant to women’s rights today, specifically matters they see as pressing and important to speak about in 2018. Their contributions were thoughtful, topical, personal and universal. Collectively their voices were strong and honest and have stimulated conversation, both at our temporary tea station and beyond. The contributing writers were Louisa Afoa, Julia Burbury, Abby Cunnane, Julie Douglas, Ioana Gordon-Smith, Mona-Pauline Mangakāhia, Sarah Murphy, Emma Ng, Kelsey Stankovich, Linda Tyler, and Layne Waerea.

ARTICLES

Louisa Afoa, On Being Fat and Waiting For ‘Your Turn’

Julia Burbury, Kate Sheppard’s House and Garden, Julia Burbury’s Labour of Love

Abby Cunnane, I never spoke to my grandmother about climate change

Julie Douglas, From Capes to Scrubs

Ioana Gordon-Smith, I blame Judy Blume

Mona-Pauline Mangakāhia, The Penny Drops

Sarah Murphy, Cnr of Cook and Vincent

Emma Ng, Nature, As We Know It

Kelsey Stankovich, Public Share collective and the power of a cup of tea!

Linda Tyler, The bogeyman calls

Layne Waerea, Free Arguments [Under Construction]: Cuba Street 2018

Distribution and Acknowledgements

In December, Public Share assembled packages for all the people who contributed to the OVER TIME project. Each contributor was sent a project tumbler (dated: 19 SEP 1893), a set of stirrers and a copy of the OVER TIME newspaper. This included Lucy Meyle, the ten writers, and the extended community of contributors.

The Mangakāhia whanau received a special edition set of tumblers from their tupuna’s whenua for each member of the whanau that supported us to make this project (MTTM stirrers). Mona-Pauline Mangakāhia was also a contributing writer for OVER TIME.

Julia Burbury, owner of Kate Sheppard House at the time received a set of tumblers from the clay she and partner Derek Smail helped us collect for the project (KS stirrers). Julia was also a contributing writer for OVER TIME.

OVER TIME was a temporary public art project commissioned by Wellington City Council Public Art & City Arts and Events team for Suffrage 125.