A Garment with a Message: Jann’s Journey at WOW

Fresh off the World of WearableArt stage, Jann reflects on the emotions, inspirations, and cultural significance woven into her creation.

Interviewer: How are you feeling today?

Jann: So amazing! The show! The nervous energy building up to it so intense. Now, I'm just like “HOH” (breathes sign of relief), and coming to the Designer’s brunch and having a debrief that’s pretty cool too.

Interviewer: What did you think of the show last night?

Jann: It was fabulous! It was fabulous! I just really loved the way our garment was presented, not having seen her since we sent her off. When she came under the lights, the model looked gorgeous, and she really worked it. Ah, it just...my heart was beating so hard, I felt really proud and humbled.

Hinetekaputi, Nan Walden-Moeung & Jann Lenihan, New Zealand

Interviewer: What was the inspiration behind your piece?

Jann: My daughter is Te Aitanga a Māhaki and I am Tangata Tiriti, and we wanted to make something that showed whanaungatanga, coming together of the people of Aotearoa. We always planned to have the Te Tiriti under the train, so that at certain points it’s upheld because that’s the thing we’re trying to say: Toitū Te Tiriti!

Interviewer: What was it like seeing your garment come to life for the first time on the WOW stage?

Jann: Oh, because you send it off so early, we hadn’t seen her for a long time. My daughter and I were sitting together, and she came out, just beside us really, to go up that ramp and she was the first one coming out in that section, I just felt a thrill go through me from head to toes, you know? Like it was just 'oh my god', and my daughter and I were clutching each other going ‘Oh my god, oh my god’. It was just such a moment; I’m never going to forget that.

Interviewer: What motivated you to enter WOW?

Jann: My daughter has entered for a number of years, and I really am inspired by her and her pride in being Māori the way she stands in that. Although growing up because she lived with us, her Pākehā whānau, it was difficult for her sometimes because she could pass as Pākehā, so she’s now grown into standing in her mana and does it really well.

Ooh, and I'd been making things from tea, and using Te Tiriti and I think that Pākehā have to watch their place you know? So, you don’t tread on toes because there’s already so much taken, that I don’t want to be taking things, intending for it to be supportive, when it's not. So, for my daughter and I to do that together, that is that literal whanaungatanga. My dad was also saving tea bags for us, he was living at Abbeyfield retirement home, so there’s a whole lot of DNA in that. He passed away in November. He didn’t get to see it, he didn’t get to see the show, but he was there with us, he was there with us.

Interviewer: What is wearable art to you?

Jann: Well, art to me is a way of conveying something that you feel deeply, that you can’t express in words so much. Now, somebody wearing that, imparts a different mana, a different way, you know instead of just hanging it on a wall, it’s a person, and the model being Māori as well, tangata whenua and knowing what we were saying you know, that just added so much value. So yeah, what is art? Wow, it’s the reason I’m alive. It doesn’t contribute to survival, but it makes survival worthwhile.

Interviewer: What’s your design process?

Jann: Obsession. I have an addictive personality. And emptying all those tea bags and stitching them all together and my daughter, Nan, has these skills in textiles and in sewing and fabricating things. So, our skills came together really well, and we couldn’t really say I did that bit, and you did that bit because we collaborated. You know, we would both say the same thing at the same time, really a true collaboration.

Interviewer: I bet it made a really great tea compost.

Jann: You’re right. It stops the snails. You’ve got the tea on the garden.

Interviewer: What would you say to anyone thinking of entering WOW for the first time?

Jann: See the show. Know what you’re doing. You know where it’s going. And sort of movement, how the garment’s going to move. And really make it about something you want to express. That’s my feeling, instead of it being an ornament, it’s also a message.

Interviewer: What’s next for you?

Jann: Well, I often enter art awards, so I've got work entered in the Molly Morpeth, don’t know the outcome of that yet. I have been in that before and won a merit in that for a t-shirt actually, made from tea. Robert Uncles was a judge that year and that was really pleasing because he is a well-known Māori artist. So yeah, I just keep chipping away like that. I work every day. I’ve got that luxury because I'm retired now. So, I feel really privileged to be able to do that, especially in today’s climate that I can just go in my studio and work away every day.