With the Olympic Games Paris 2024 taking place in one of the world’s great art capitals, it was fitting that talented young film-maker, multi-disciplinary artist and designer Zakea Page took the opportunity to showcase his latest work.
The New Zealander has a strong connection to the Olympic movement, having won the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) global competition to design the medals for the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games. He went on to perform at the opening ceremony, brilliantly recreating his own medal design using a hockey stick and a ball covered in paint.
During the first week of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, Zakea hosted his ‘Hockey in Motion’ exhibition in central Paris. Using a hockey stick and ball, he paints in virtual reality, using the movements of field hockey to create incredible digital sculptures, with a hockey player and the Eiffel Tower being just two of many wonderful examples.
The exhibition featured a live VR performance painting in which visitors were able to use virtual reality headsets to immerse themselves in the artwork immediately after Zakea had created it.
Accepting Zakea’s kind invitation to the one-day exhibition, we caught up with him to learn more about his work and his deep passion for the ideals of the Olympic Games.
©Zakea Page. Used with permission
Hi Zakea, thank you so much for inviting us to your exhibition and taking the time to talk to us. Can you tell us all about yourself, please?
Zakea Page: “So my name is Zakea Page. I’m an artist, filmmaker and designer. At the moment, I’m in Paris during the Olympic Games for my solo exhibition called ‘Hockey in Motion’, which is about utilising hockey and the movements of hockey to create artwork. So it’s about sports and arts and the relationship between sport and art, especially during an Olympic Games, where the father of the Olympic Games (Pierre de Coubertin, a Parisian) expressed the importance of having both art and sport as a fundamental part of the Olympic Games. It’s also about not just sport, but also about France, as the host nation. So we’re also celebrating a little bit about French culture. And celebrating the host nation as well.”
And what is your connection to hockey?
ZP: “So I’m a former field hockey player. I played for about eight years. I played on the Vietnam National Team domestically and I played in local clubs in New Zealand, such as Harbour City Hockey Club (in Wellington). It’s been a big passion throughout my whole life. And it’s brought me many happy memories and brought me into some amazing communities. So, it’s been a very special part of my life.”
And obviously, we’re here in Paris for the Olympic Games. You’ve got an Olympic connection yourself with the Youth Olympics. Can you tell us a little bit more about that, please?
ZP: “My dream was to play hockey for New Zealand to get Olympic medal, but gradually I started creating artwork and utilising field hockey in my performance work. My goal changed when I would start to focus on arts and I wanted to perform at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, using field hockey to create art. And I had the opportunity to perform at the opening ceremony of the Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne in 2020. And it was a painting of the medal I designed for the Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games, as I won an international design competition. The medal was called ‘Beauty and Diversity’, which was inspired by a quote from American poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou. She spoke about the importance of diversity, bringing together nations and people from all different places, which is what the Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games are all about.”
Finally, you are planning on going to the Yves-du-Manoir Hockey Stadium to see the Paris 2024 Olympic hockey in the coming days. Are you excited?
ZP: “I’m really excited. I haven’t been to an Olympic field hockey event before. I’ve been to the Youth Olympics, but not the big stage so I’m really looking forward to seeing it. Also, the fact that it’s in a historic stadium, the same stadium that held the Olympic Games opening ceremony last time, in 1924, so I’m really looking forward to just being there, being part of it and checking it all out.”
To learn more about the art of Zakea Page, click here.
For more information about the fabulous Olympic hockey competitions that were played at Paris 2024, visit Olympics.Hockey.
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