Sea Together x Aoka Surf Weekend in Aotearoa New Zealand
Sea Together Magazine partnered with New Zealand’s Aoka Surf Studio for a weekend of celebrating the art, photography, business, and surfing of women surfers of Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Thank you to everyone who came, brought inspiration to the weekend and left inspired by the weekend to bring some magic and love of women’s surfing to wherever you ventured home to. The weekend began on Friday evening with a lovely welcome dinner with women surfers who came from all over the country.
Photos by Lou @louloubphoto
We showcased films curated by Amy Rose Hewton. The films showcased were all created by women and included women surfers:
“Las Shapers: Three Women Trailblaze a New Path for Surfboard Building”, the work of Camila Saldarriaga and Kat Mortimer featuring shapers Kat Mortimer, Cher Pendarvis, and Valerie Duprat
“Women and Waves” by Heather Hudson
“Worm Dreams Big” by SeaLevelTV
“Johanna” by Ashley Beer
“Everything in Between” by Andrea Coleman Photo
When asked why Amy chose these films, she replied, “Overarching, I wanted to share films that represented the variety of life surrounding surfing, the shapers, surfers, film makers, young and old, legends and beginners, long and short boarding from various places around the world from pioneers to our future. Hopefully, some of these films the audience might not have seen yet. I want us to see us in all these ladies, so we can get the frothing stoke and hope and happiness that surfing is.”
Photo by Sea Together Magazine & Lou @louloubphoto
The weekend continued on with yoga, a creative workshop with the Founder of Sea Together, and lots of surfing in-between, before the photo exhibition with photographers Mischa Davis, Ellen Mary Taylor, and Anrielle Hunt, with music by local artist Morgan Keating Marr. We were amazed and inspired by the presence of the local community throughout the weekend, and were so grateful to Port Road Project for hosting our weekend.
Photos by Lou @louloubphoto
Our final day of the weekend wrapped up with celebrating the makers of Aotearoa New Zealand and you may have seen short clips of the makers on Sea Together’s Instagram Story . Thanks to everyone who came out to support the creative work, and who stuck out to the afternoon to do a beach clean-up with NZ organization Project Wai.
Photos by Project Wai & Lou @louloubphoto
Special thanks to all of the humans who poured out their energy into this community for making the weekend happen. It took dozens of people to make this weekend happen and the weekend was all thanks to you!
Special thanks to our sponsors U&I Label, The Virtue, Salt Gypsy, Port Road Project and Oceans of Happiness who supported the weekend and also donated merchandise to our raffle during the Film night.
Stay tuned for next year and be sure to comment below on what your favorite aspect of the weekend was so that we can hear about it! x