Collage

This collaged panel once hung in Wellington’s Evergreen Coffee Lounge in Vivian Street. 

It is part of a collection of panels and other items that relate to the life of Chrissy Witoko, the  Evergreen Coffee Lounge, and the communities of people who congregated in the cafés and night clubs around Cuba and Vivian streets between about 1970 – 2002.

Each panel includes a combination of photographs featuring people that Chrissy associated with, news or magazine clippings, business cards and other ephemera.

This panel may have been hung when the café opened in 1984, but it includes images that date back to the early 1960s, 1970s, as well as photographs taken from the 1980s at the Evergreen. It features performers of the all male revue ‘Les Girls’ cabaret show in Sydney’s Kings Cross (established 1963), and the central double image is an award-winning photograph of Natasha Allen. The collage also includes a newspaper clipping of Carmen Rupe at the Trentham Races, and also at Parliament.

Some of the people featured in this panel are:
Natasha Allen, Edwina King, Paula Konia, Shirelle Eyenon, Tasha Love Henare, Dana de Milo, Rikki Love, Joseph Baria Rangihuna (Rose), Dion Kerehoma, Gypsy Tawhaki, Sapphire Te Whata, Pasi Tenupopo, Warrick, Belinda Lee, Simone Troy, Monique St John, Hine Mahalia Kingi, Carmen Rupe, Frank Lund, Gay Hawkins, Shelley, Chrissy Witoko, Phyllis Munro, Sheree Skipper, Malcolm Vaughan, Typhane, Cathy Mitchell, Johnny Croskery, Robena Rewi, Xiihana Chan, Chrissy, Karen Boyes, Virginia, "Twiggy" Lisa Tane, Shirley Grey, Georgina Beyer, Ella Wilson, Yvette Kennedy, Schara, Rosa, Gina L'amour, Stella Paul, Raewyn Taylor, Carla Allen, Old Sheba, Ingred Summers, Tui, Maleke, Augustine (Kimberly), Christine, Tony (Tania) Bartlet, Maureen, Geraldine Shepherd and Daisy.

Te Papa is working in collaboration with LGBTI communities and individuals to discover the histories represented in the panels. If you have any information you would like to share in relation to this panel please contact a history curator at Te Papa on +64 (0)4 381 7000 or email Evergreen@tepapa.govt.nz