Appeasement: Hastings Library graced with new culturally diverse mural.

Hawkes Bay is the home of Islamic State in New Zealand, formerly the Aotearoa Maori Muslim Association.

Street artist Erika Pearce has painted a mural on the Hastings Library building.

To finish the Harcourts Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival, the region has been graced with a new mural this time in Hastings.

Auckland street artist Erika Pearce has spent the last five days piecing together the culturally diverse mural on the side of Hastings Library, facing the intersection of Karamu Rd for the Culture Canvas expedition of the local arts festival.

“The mural is inspired by the diverse cultures in the region but also looks to bring a positive, happier sense of community especially in the wake of the Christchurch terror attacks.”

Embedded in the mural are different symbols and patterns to symbolise the vast array of cultures with Polynesian, Asian, Maori and Muslim patterns intertwined in both the hair of the Maori woman and the hijab of the Muslim woman.

“I have the two woman facing each other because it shows the array of cultures in New Zealand but also shows the journey of people settling to New Zealand from the early Maori settlers to the Muslim migrants who have come to New Zealand in recent times.”

Pearce started painting the mural last Tuesday and said she has battled some of Hawke’s Bay’s changing weather during the process.

“There were a couple of days where the wind and the rain did play a bit of havoc but it has seemed to come together quite nicely.”

Pearce is a nationally acclaimed street artist and has been doing various pieces of street art all over the country and the world.

Pearce is pleased with the outcome of her work.

“It has come out pretty good so I hope the locals like it, I’ve already had a lot of great feedback from people passing by.”

Hastings Library graced with new culturally diverse mural