Eke Panuku Development Auckland has been working with local artist Gary Silipa to develop a new mural for Panmure.
The work, ‘Love Panmure’, has been installed on the wall at the back of 25 Queens Road, visible from Lagoon Drive and the AMETI corridor, and is there to celebrate the community and its many connections. Renowned for its wonderful natural features and for its role in bringing together the people of Tāmaki, Panmure is an important and vital hub, a beating heart of activity in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Raised in Panmure, Gary Silipa is a New Zealand-born Samoan artist with a broad art practice that includes art making and education. A driving force behind strengthening the arts in Tāmaki, Gary is a strong advocate for community arts and its power to increase wellbeing and connection within communities. Gary leads TGTB Charitable Trust, a local NFP organisation with a vision for ‘a thriving Tāmaki community empowered by the arts’. The trust delivers key local art events Bradley Lane Project and Bradley Lane Illuminated and art exhibitions. He also founded Tāmaki’s first art gallery, The Good The Bad in Glen Innes in 2015 with a new site in Panmure opening in July. Since 2010, Gary has focused on developing his own artwork beyond graffiti, which he started doing in his teens, resulting in work that seamlessly shifts between the streets and indoor settings.
The mural is part of Eke Panuku Development Auckland’s urban regeneration work in Panmure. Working with the community and local stakeholders, Eke Panuku created the Panmure Masterplan, a way to redevelop the Panmure town centre over the next ten-years. The Masterplan builds on Panmure as one of Tamaki’s best-connected centres and a location of choice for Aucklanders looking for a great place to live, work and play.