Premium Unisex Singlet – Together for Better

My daughter woke up and saw me working on this. For her, the words became a song. She started singing,

“Together for better, on 7th of November.”

“What does it mean?” she asked.

I told her it means we need to work together to stop seabed mining. That if we want this government out, we have to be together to do it. She asked if she could sing when I posted it. I said yes.

Because this isn’t just my voice.

It’s hers too.

My son woke up next and asked what I was working on. I explained what it meant. I said,

“This is Māori and European. The parts of us working together to look after the sky, the sun, the wind, space, the land, the sea, and all the creatures in between.”

He said, “What about the others?”

I said yes. All the people who live in Aotearoa.

He said, “Even the Chinese?”

I said yes, they’re there too.

Then he said, “You’re missing something.”

I asked what.

He said, “The universe.”

And he was right.

So I added the stars.

The wairua of the land and the sea.

The threads that connect us to all things.

Because nothing here exists in isolation.

And neither do we.

Kia ora. My name is Taryn. I am a graphic designer, photographer, and web designer.

I am Māori Pākehā.

Growing up at Hongoeka Marae, my cousins teasingly called me a “palangi Māori”. White enough to be automatically accepted. Māori enough to carry the generational trauma of colonisation. Irish enough to be defiant. Māori enough to know my grandmother stood on our whenua, and her grandmother stood there before her.

Enough to know where I stand today.

Māori and Pākehā enough to understand the promise of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and how this document enables human rights and environmental protections for everyone here.

Kiwi enough to know that our current government is screwing us, hiding behind its dog whistles that incite racism while pushing legislation that benefits mega corporations through Parliament.

Kiwi enough to know that we will all go toe to toe on the line, peacefully, to fight injustice.

Because that is what people do when they love this place.

This is not Māori versus Pākehā or Pākehā versus Māori.

It is not us and them.

We are all a mix.

This is us versus mega corporations and gas barons.

Us versus tobacco companies and multinational food giants.

Us versus landlords of all nationalities who treat housing like a business but refuse to pay tax like one.

Us versus systems that quietly funnel wealth upward while everyday people struggle to survive.

This is not us versus each other.

It is us versus systems that protect profit and power at any cost, even when that means elevating known abusers to positions of global influence and asking the world to accept it as normal.

This is not a distant conflict.

It is us versus systems that enable genocide in Palestine, justify the mass killing of civilians, and expect silence in return.

Silence is not neutrality.

Silence is a choice.

Yes, we matter.

And what we do here ripples outward.

Aotearoa has led progress before, often long before it was comfortable or popular. From the peaceful resistance at Parihaka, to becoming the first country to grant women the right to vote, to standing against apartheid when it fractured the nation, we have repeatedly chosen people, justice, and long-term wellbeing over profit and power.

And in the age of social media, that influence moves even faster. Just like Hana-Rāwhiti’s powerful, defiant haka reverberated through phones around the world, igniting collective pride and making it unmistakably clear that the Treaty Principles Bill is not accepted and will not be accepted. In a time where hope felt thin, it reminded us who we are.

Public action like the Toitū Te Tiriti hīkoi cuts through that structure, reminding those in power that legitimacy does not come from corporate money or privileged access.

It comes from us. The people.

The systems we live under were built by people.

They can be rebuilt by people.

This artwork is a reflection of that truth.

We are together. Māori, Pākehā, Pasifika, and all the people who call Aotearoa New Zealand home, in all our identities and expressions. We stand together because we deserve better.

We deserve good healthcare.

We deserve our basic needs met.

We deserve a roof over our heads and food in our tummies.

We deserve to pay tax and have our government use that tax for the public good.

Not to fund legislation that benefits corporations that want to mine our seabeds and leave us with toxic debris.

Not to prop up industries or policies that put profit before public health.

About the Digital Artwork

The eyes are the pāua eyes from the tūpuna carved at Hongoeka Marae. They reflect years spent gazing at the carvings and art of our marae, while te reo Māori flowed around me and I understood the essence, even when I did not understand the words.

The fishbone pattern is drawn from the tukutuku panels of Hongoeka, converging toward Taranaki and the three raukura of Parihaka. They represent change through peaceful, collective resistance, even in the face of oppression.

The colours repeated through the guardian, the sky, the earth, and the sea represent our interconnectedness. What affects the land affects us. What harms the water harms our bodies. At a molecular level, we are not separate from this place.

Tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti, working together as Te Tiriti o Waitangi intended. Arms and legs formed from many cultures and histories. Diverse in culture, gender, sexuality, and expression. All of us who call this place, in the corner of the world, home.

Together, as guardians of Aotearoa New Zealand, we say to those who seek to strip away our basic rights:

We deserve better.

We deserve a cycle of wealth that circulates.

We deserve not to be homeless.

We deserve nutritious food.

We deserve to live in beautiful spaces.

We deserve transport that evolves with our respect for the environment.

We deserve our children to have all their needs met.

We deserve help when we ask for it.

We deserve a system that feeds people, not shareholders.

I will be voting for the Green Party. Throughout this government’s term, they have consistently worked to hold power to account. Te Pāti Māori is also grounded in kaupapa and community, advocating for people over profit and honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Both parties are primarily grassroots-funded, relying far less on corporate and industry-linked donations than the major parties.

Everyone, on 7th of November, get out and vote.

Choose to make a difference for yourself, in your own space. It’s all any of us can do, and it’s enough.

Together for Better on 7th of November.

Ko Taiuni tōku waka

Ko Whitireia tōku maunga

Ko Ngāti Kimihia tōku hapū

Ko Ngāti Toa Rangatira me Te Āti Awa ngā iwi

Ko Te Āti Awa ki Whakarongotai tētahi o aku iwi

Ko Hongoeka tōku marae

Ko Kenana tōku wharekai

Ko Taryn ahau

Major parties including the National Party, Labour Party, ACT Party, and New Zealand First have received declared donations from corporate entities, industry-linked trusts, or associated lobby groups connected to sectors such as property development, banking, energy, extractive industries, and tobacco, as published by the Electoral Commission.