Te Uru’s annual Secondary School Art Awards exhibition celebrates the extraordinary developing artistic talent in West Auckland and aims to foster the next generation of artists. E Tipu, E Rea means ‘grow, young shoot,’ a reference to budding artists. Each year, Secondary Schools from across West Auckland nominate one outstanding Year 13 student to exhibit in Te Uru’s Learning Centre Gallery. Submissions include Avondale College, Green Bay High School, Henderson High School, Kelston Boys’ High School, Kelston Girls’ College, Liston College, Titirangi Rudolf Steiner School, Waitākere College, Hobsonville Point Secondary School and St Dominic’s Catholic College.

This year, Waitākere College has selected Chase Jessen to represent our kura. Chase has diligently documented the Waitākere College senior boys basketball team as these fearless tauira voyaged through one heck of a season. What began as a straightforward photo essay for Chase quickly evolved into an insightful and poetic portrait of West Auckland youth. 

In his own words, Chase has said about his work: “For a while, basketball was my main priority. I played it everyday at lunch, I joined the school team and I watched basketball content every day. Somewhere along the way, I lost the passion I once had for the sport, distancing myself from basketball and focusing more on school and other things. One of my all time favourite players, Carmelo Anthony, once said "You've got to have fun on the court. If you ain't having fun, then basketball ain't fun”. This quote really hit me at the time. I wasn't enjoying the sport. I hated having to go to training. I hated being yelled at after a mistake. I hated not getting playing time. I just decided enough was enough and walked away. Recently, I've been thinking a lot about basketball, once again rekindling the fire and passion in my heart for the sport. Through studying photography, I can once again step on the court. Not as a player, but as a photographer.”

A curated snapshot of this series can be found on the Visual Arts Instagram Page found here: @wcvisualarts. The exhibition will be open to the public from August 29th until September 13th. Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery is located within Lopdell House at 420 Titirangi Road. The gallery is open every day from 10 am until 4:30 pm. 

Waitākere College has not submitted work for this award since 2024, when Georgia Tullock was awarded first place. We wish Chase the same success and couldn’t be prouder of his mahi.