There will definitely be nothing tiny about the celebrations taking place at the Tauranga Art Gallery to recognise Kiribati Day today.

A wide range of free family-friendly activities that aim to share the culture of the tiny island nation will feature as part of Kiribati Day which is taking place at the art gallery from 10am.

New Zealand artists Chris Charteris (pictured) and Jeff Smith will give a public talk about their exhibition ‘Tunguru: The Kiribati Project' which is on display at the Tauranga Art Gallery. Photo: Supplied.

The event features traditional dances and songs performed by members of the Bay of Plenty's Kiribati community, plus storytelling and art activities using traditional methods and materials.

Kiribati Day will also feature a talk delivered by New Zealand artists Chris Charteris and Jeff Smith, who collaborated on the exhibition Tungaru: The Kiribati Project whichis currently on display at the gallery.

Chris, who is of Kiribati and Fijian descent, explains ‘Tunguru' is the pre-colonial name for Kiribati and the exhibition records his journey to the island to trace his roots in 2012.

'I predominantly work in stone,” he explains, 'but for this exhibition I use materials relating to the environment and the resources in Kiribati such as coral and shells, coconut shell, pandanis timber palm and sharks teeth.

'The photography and the art work are there to complement each other and its a way to share Kiribati's culture, environment and history with the wider community.”

The centre piece of the exhibition is his sculpture Te Ma, Ringed Venus shells which is crafted from 8,000 seashells.

Chris says it's based on a traditional Kiribati fish trap and it took him more than a year to complete.

'The Kiribati people quite like it too, they often say ‘who would be so crazy to do something like that',” he says laughing.

'It was designed to be a community project so I was also helped by family and friends which is the reason why I did it; that's how communities work in Kiribati.”

ABOUT KIRIBATI

Kiribati. Courtesy of Google Maps

The nation of Kiribati (pronounced ‘Kir-ee-bas') borders the equator in the Pacific Ocean and includes the Gilbert, Phoenix and Line island groups, who's people are known as ‘I-Kiribati'.

Its 33 atolls span a huge 3.5 million km2 of the Pacific, with the majority surrounding turquoise lagoons and barely rise above the surrounding ocean.

But measured by land size the tiny republic is a little over 810km2, and if scientists are correct, the ocean will eventually swallow most of Kiribati before the end of the century, if not sooner.

Kiribati Day takes place at the Tauranga Art Gallery on Saturday, November 14, from 10am to 3.45pm. For more information and programme details visit: www.artgallery.org.nz/events