Attention Grabber

"One for the Mother - Allsorts" - 2010

Wayne Youle (Ngapuhi, Ngati Whakaeke) is an artist known for his bright, slick, 'pop-art style', an artist who never shies away from playfully challenging bicultural stereotypes. This is his latest work, covering the usually grey car park bunker outside Christchurch Art Gallery - a vibrant splash of colour that is part of the gallery's excellent OUTER SPACES programme that promotes art works outside the main gallery building. It's as if some giant licorice allsort has fallen from the sky and tumbled onto a green patch right in front of the gallery. Lovely!
www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz

Art at the Civic Centre

Given earthquakes and book writing, I have only just managed to get myself along to the new Christchurch City Council Building - a joint venture between the council and Ngai Tahu - and I must say I am impressed. Who would have thought the old New Zealand Post building would 'scrub up' so nicely. What I particularly like is the building's 'twin face' - the Worcester entrance above, with its wonderful Fayne Robinson powhenua, Te Pou Herenga Waka; and the southern Hereford Street entrance (below), which features the magnificent etched glass mural by Ross Hemera, Tuhituhi Whenua.

Given that the building is a joint venture, a bicultural undertaking as it were, it is also fitting that two other major artworks by leading Pakeha artists are featured - Neil Dawson's Ripple and Feather, which I never actually saw; and the above work, Knot, by Julia Morison. The latter is typical of Christchurch-based Morison's sleek, complex, beautiful perfection - a work that shimmers and changes as you move through the building from one side to the other. It is partially marred here by the scaffolding supporting a large section of inner structure that was damaged in the recent Christchurch earthquake. Based on an 'infinity knot' common in Celtic art, it alludes to the complexities and multiple pathways of communication, which seems entirely fitting for a bicultural public space.

The northern entrance to the building is dominated by the powhenua, carved by Fayne Robinson (Kai Tahu, Ngati Apa Ki Te Ra To, Ngati Porou), which is beautifully offset by the gently cascading water feature. It's there - among a series of decorative tiles representing seven of Canterbury's important waterways, that you'll find the bronze eels by Ngai Tahu artist, Priscilla Cowie (top image). Both water and eels were key determinants in the original settling of Canterbury land. The seven water tiles are mirrored by a further seven tiles on the rear of the powhenua that represent the site's history.

It's the intricate glass mural by Ross Hemera though that I found the most interesting. Hemera (Ngai Tahu, Mamoe, Waitaha), is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Visual and Material Culture at Massey University. 'His creative works draw inspiration from the South Island landscape and in particular the ancient rock drawings found in limestone caves and outcrops that were created by his tipuna (ancestors), the nomadic Waitaha. His works have been exhibited internationally and major commissions include the Wakamarama sculpture at the entrance to the the Maori section of Te Papa Tongarewa, and the beautiful glass windows throughout the interior of Te Runanga of Ngai Tahu, Te Waipounamu House in Christchurch.

His gigantic work for the Hereford Street face of the new Civic Building, is inspired by the words of Matiaha Tiramorehu's petition to Queen Victoria in 1857. In that, "it honours the wishes of Ngai Tuahuriri that these words serve as a aspiration of unity to recognise the partnership between Ngai Tahu and the Christchurch City Council. As it stretches across the wide face of the building, it 'weaves along braided rivers' and over the Canterbury Plains. Ti Kouka, the cabbage tree, has a starring role and willow trees allude to English settlers. All up, it's a stunning work that 'explores both the geological ancrestry of central Te Waipounamu (the South Island) and the material culture of the people' who settled here. More than anything though - more than the beauty of these individual artworks even - I am impressed by the 'recycling' of the old NZ Post building. It was never a high point of any inner city wander and while it could have been demolished and an all-new structure built (at huge cost), it's a credit to both parties that they sought what I think is the harder road - turning an architectural ugly duckling into a thing of beauty.

www.ngaitahu.iwi.nz

www.ccc.govt.nz

Kaitiaki - Trustee/Guardian

I love walking a city and unexpectedly coming upon a work of public art.

Wellington is perfect for that because of the intimate nature of the city and the proliferation of public artworks. Here, in Auckland, because of the far greater spread of the city and the tucked-away nature of many of the sculptures (and, it must be said, a lack of promotion), I tend to "stumble on artwork" far less often. So I was delighted when I walked around the corner and discovered this gleaming work "Kaitiaki II" (Trustee), by Maori artist, Fred Graham.
It's located down the lower end of Queen Street.

A few days later, I happened upon this second dramatic piece by Graham, Kaitiaki .

It's part of the Auckland Domain Scupture walk, initiated in 2001 and funded by the P.A. Edmiston Trust with assistance from the NZ Lotteries Grants Board Millennium Fund.

Fred Graham (b 1928), Ngati Koroki, Ngati Raukawa, studied art at Ardmore and Dunedin Teachers' College and became one of the young Maori artists to work under celebrated Maori carver, Pine (Pineamine) Taiapa, Ngati Porou (1901-1972), who between 1946-71 worked on 39 traditional meeting houses, including the spectacular whare runanga on the Waitangi Treaty Grounds). Graham though, soon became interested in alternative materials and non-traditional expression and moved toward sculpture, using stainless steel, copper and native and exotic timbers. This work in the Auckland Domain, close to Auckland Museum, represents a hawk.

I like the way it's huge, swooping, menacing form so perfectly represents the predator qualities of the hawk at the same time, casting a vast, protective shadow across the land beneath.

Capital Art - A Maori Perspective.

"Spinning Top"

Robert Jahnke 2002

Woodward St. Wellington

This is one of my favourites among the many contemporary New Zealand sculptures commissioned by the Wellington Sculpture Trust in partnership with the Wellington City Council, to enhance the capital city's urban environment. It was created by leading Maori artist, Professor Robert Jahnke, who is currently Head of School and Maori Visual Arts Co-Ordinator at Massey University in Palmerston North. Jahnke (Te Whanau a Rakairoa, Te Whanau a Iritekura, Ngai Taharoroa, Ngati Porou), was born in the East Coast settlement of Waipiro Bay in 1951. He has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and internationally since 1982 and his work and career is an exploration of what it means to be a Maori artist. While an advocate for biculturalism, Jahnke often explores the issues around injustices to Maori through his artwork; and his sculptures often feature both Maori and Pakeha symbolism. Along with many wood constructions, Jahnke has also worked as an illustrator and in film and two of his best known commissions are door works for the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the wall reliefs for Bowen House in Wellington.

Marae Carving

Carving Detail

Takahanga Marae

Kaikoura

April 2010. Ajr
Takahanga Marae in Kaikoura is one of my favourites. Not only does it occupy a history-riddled hilltop site above the town with staggering views of the dramatic Kaikoura coastline and mountains, it also has an impressive collection of contemporary art - inside and out, Pakeha and Maori (including a beautiful Bill Hammond painted screen in the whare kai (dining room). I won't ramble on about all that here because I have written about the marae previously and shown many examples of the art and carvings. You can see those by clicking on Takahanga Marae in the label line below this entry.

Sacred Memories

Nga Kuri a Wharei - The Four Dog Jewels. Rua Pick.

Te Kohurau (Kurow), in North Otago in the South Island and its surrounding areas is sacred to the Waitaha people – the tribe believed to be one of the first tribal groups to occupy the South island from around 850 AD. It is fitting then that the exhibition, “Waitaha: Nga Ahi Kaa, Lighting the Fires of the Sacred Memories” is now showing at Kurow Museum.

Uku. Rua Pick


Kokowai. Rua Pick.
It is an exhibition of sacred taonga (treasures) from the Waitaha people and includes both ancient and modern taonga - from old stone taonga toki and whao, mokihi and raranga to modern paintings and sculpture by artists like Rua Pick (Waitaha, Ngati Ruapekapeka), whose works are shown here; and Warren Thompson. I’ve featured Rua previously in Meet the People (8) and you can read more about his work by clicking on Meet the People in the label line below. As these new works show though, he continues to be inspired by the Maori rock drawings of the South Island, many thought to have been created by early Waitaha. The top work – Nga Kuri a Wharei – The Four Dog Jewels is a tribute to the Waitaha nga hoanga tuhituhi (rock drawings and paintings). The exhibition continues at Kurow Museum until March 30, 2010. www.ruapick.vc.net.nz

Meet the People - 23

Another in the Series Meet the People – Contemporary Maori Doing Ordinary and Extraordinary Things – Sandy Adsett (Ngati Kahungunu, Ngati Pahauwera), is one of New Zealand’s leading contemporary Maori artists. And as such he is adamant that Maori artists must work first and foremost for their own people. “A Maori has an obligation to the art of his/her people. It’s the people’s art. It doesn’t belong to you,” he has said. “It must identify Maori to Maori if it is going to remain relevant to statements about our tribal beliefs, values and mana (standing) in today’s and tomorrow’s world.” Born in Wairoa on the North Island’s East Coast in 1939, Sandy’s contribution to Maori art has been immense. Quite apart from his own broad art career as painter, carver, weaver, costume and stage designer (designing everything from postage stamps to full scale stage sets for the Royal New Zealand Ballet), he has been instrumental in furthering Maori Visual Arts within the New Zealand school curriculum.

Ever since he became an arts specialist for the Department of Education Advisory Service in the 1960s, helping to introduce the new ‘Maori Arts in Schools’ progamme, he has influenced generations of aspiring artists. In 1993 he was appointed a principal tutor at Tairawhiti Polytechnic in Gisborne; and in 2002 he settled in Hastings – the heart of his Kahungunu tribal roots – where he established the new School of Contemporary Maori Visual Arts, Toimairangi, Te Wananga o Aotearoa. He is a member of Te Atinga, the Committee of Contemporary Maori Visual Arts of Toi Maori Aotearoa and is on the board of Te Waka Toi, Creative New Zealand.
As an artist in his own right, Sandy has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and in USA, Canada and Australia. His own works have been heavily inspired by traditional kowhaiwhai (rafter patterns in wharenui or meeting houses); and he has always maintained a balance between the contemporary and the traditional in the materials he has chosen to work with. This week (Oct 9, 10, 11), Sandy will be one of the participating artists in the biennial MAORI ART MARKet, which is being staged at Pataka and the Te Rauparaha Events Centre in Porirua, near Wellington. www.maoriarts.org.nz (All images courtesy of Toi Maori Aotearoa).

Searching for Tangaroa

Leading Maori sculptor, Brett Graham (Ngati Koroki Kahukura), opens his Wellington exhibition ‘Searching for Tangaroa’ at Bartley & Company Art tomorrow night, October 6th. It’s his first show in the capital for a number of years – though many Wellingtonians will be familiar with his large public sculpture, Kaiwhakatere, which sits behind Parliament Buildings on Bowen Street. Graham has exhibited extensively – nationally and internationally – over the last decade and he is highly regarded as one of the most exciting and accomplished contemporary Maori sculptors. Although many of his works are not overtly Maori, they are the product of Graham’s interest in “a dual dialogue of Maori and European histories, adhering to the Modernist emphasis on form and material quality.” His concepts and titles though, invariably draw on his Maori heritage. The small illustration here (courtesy of bartley & company art) shows sculptural detail from work in his upcoming Wellington exhibition – a solo show that reflects Graham’s ongoing fascination with water as a cultural site. Searching for Tangaroa explores the convergence of ancient and contemporary beliefs and technologies. He employs high-tech underwater scanners in a mythical quest for the location of Hui te anga nui, the house of the god of the sea and the original site of the carving. As a metaphor for the human search for meaning, the scanners reference a range of issues from the foreshore and seabed act to values systems and religions. Graham has also collaborated with fellow Maori artist, Rachael Rakena, who I featured here a couple of weeks ago. Their collaborative works (Aniwaniwa and UFOB) have attracted significant international attention and have been shown at both the Venice and Sydney Biennales. www.brettgraham.co.nz www.bartleyandcompany.co.nz

More International Acclaim for Maori Artist

Rachael Rakena, 2009. Image Courtesy Bartley & Company Art, Wellington

Back in 2005 I went along to Christchurch’s SOFA Gallery to see “Taonga Whanau,” a stunning show by Maori artist, Rachael Rakena (Ngai Tahu, Ngapuhi), a collaboration with Otene and Hana Rakena. I still have clear memories of the darkened gallery, the flickering, tantalising video images, the beautiful pounamu taonga (treasures), swinging above reflective surfaces. So I was delighted to learn a couple of days ago that Rakena’s newest video work, He Waiata Whaiaipo, recently exhibited at Wellington’s Bartley & Company Art, is set for international exposure. Rachael is one of the 25 musicians, artists and scholars selected by Wellington composer, Associate Professor Jack Body, to travel to China to take part in an international symposium on New Zealand and Pacific music at the beginning of November. Rachael’s work has been selected to be part of a video installation that Professor Body is curating. The image above – One Man is an Island – is a still from Rachael’s video work – “a love song in moving image employing the act of eating as a metaphor to play out ideas about desire, pursuit and fulfilment. In addition to working as an artist, Rachael is a lecturer at Toioho ki Apiti, School of Maori Studies at Massey University. To describe and locate her art practice, she has coined the term Toi Rerehiko, which plays on rorohiko, the Maori word for computer. Toi Rerehiko is a digital media art form immersed in Maori tikanga (custom) and values. In addition to exhibiting widely throughout New Zealand, Rachael’s work has received much acclaim internationally, particularly her collaborations for Sydney Biennale (2006), Venice Biennale (2007) and Busan Biennale (2008). www.rachaelrakena.com www.bartleyandcompanyart.co.nz

More From "Digital Marae"

"Maui" Lisa Reihana 2007 Image Courtesy GOvett-Brewster Gallery
"Diva" Lisa Reihana 2007. Image courtesy Govett-Brewster Gallery
Two more images from "Digital Marae/Lisa Reihana"

The new publication produced by Taranaki's Govett-Brewster Gallery.

Click on Govett-Brewster in the label line below to read more about this 48-page collection of stunning photographs created by contemporary Maori artist, Lisa Reihana, who is currently Artist-in-Residence at McCahon House in Titirangi, Auckland. www.govettbrester.com

Taking Time

"Dandy" Lisa Reihana 2007. Image Courtesy Govett-Brewster Gallery

Innovative contemporary Maori artist, Lisa Reihana believes things should take time; hence her latest artistic project Digital Marae was conceived as a project that will evolve over two decades. Reihana (b.1964) is one of New Zealand’s foremost film and multi-media artists and her work has been exhibited internationally and is in a number of major national and international collections. Now we have the additional pleasure of a richly-illustrated volume of her works, Digital Marae/Lisa Reihana, produced by Taranaki’s Govett-Brewster Gallery. Digital Marae explores the concept of the marae (meeting place), which is the traditional place, bound by complex protocols, where Maori come together. Various architectural components of the central wharenui (meeting house) act as conduits for the passing on of traditional knowledge through the paintings, carvings, designs and the tukutuku panels that adorn them. One of the major features of the interior of the wharenui is the pouwhenua – the carved figures that represent individual ancestors. It is these figures that Lisa Reihana has reinterpreted in a contemporary sense, producing haunting life-size photographs of men and women. In 2007 the Govett-Brewster presented the latest incarnation of Digital Marae (the first was in 2001); a suite of new photographs that reference atua (gods) who are male and takatapui (cross-gendered) figures. This publication, edited by Govett-Brewster Director and curator, Rhana Devenport, includes writing by leading Maori architectural historian, Dr Deirdre Brown and cultural theorist and sociologist, Nikos Papastergiadis from the University of Melbourne with Melbourne-based curator-writer, Victoria Lyn and others. Lisa Reihana is currently the Artist-in-Residence at McCahon House in Titirangi, Auckland. She was short-listed for theWalters Prize earlier this year and Digital Marae was short-listed for the 2009 Anne Landa Award in Australia, an acquisitional award for video and new media. Digital Marae/Lisa Reihana is now available through the Govett-Brewster Art & Design Shop, and selected bookstores around New Zealand and Australia. (ISBN 9780908848324; 48 pages; $25). www.govettbrewster.com

Snare/Mahanga

A couple of days ago I followed the wonderful trail of whitebait photos from “White Baiters Never Lie,” which I featured here yesterday (below), all along Worcester Boulevard to the very last one outside the Robert McDougall Gallery, Canterbury Museum. Since I was there, it seemed an opportune moment to venture inside and check out another Christchurch Arts Festival exhibition, “Snare/Mahanga.” The show brings together the work of a small group of artists who were allowed ‘behind the scenes’ at Canterbury Museum, to get their inspiration from the museum’s ornithological collection. The resulting works are incredibly diverse but all touch upon the sensitive issues of conservation and extinction and feature already-extinct and rare birds like the kakapo, the beautiful huia and the Haast eagle. I didn’t have time to give the show just attention so I’ll be going back for another visit, but I did love Peter Maddon’s “Waka Huia,” which includes five beautiful taxidermied huia from the museum’s collection, complete with little labels tied around their claws; and Fiona Pardington’s delicious, velvety handprinted photograph, as shown in the image in the photographed catalogue below, is one I’m still thinking about two days later.

The painting shown on the catalogue cover is a detail from Geoff Dixon’s “Black/White (Old World/New World). Co-presented by festival sponsors, Te Runanga a Ngai Tahu, the exhibition also includes beautiful works by Maori artists including delicate silver and feather jewellery by Areta Wilkinson; wood carving by Caine Tauwhare, woven birds by Reihana Parata, painted rocks by Te Mairiki Williams and an exquisitely woven kit by Ranui Ngarimu to name a few. www.ngaitahu.iwi.nz http://www.canterburymuseum.com/ http://www.artsfestival.co.nz

Taking the Bait

Whitebait and the act of whitebaiting, is one of those iconic New Zealand activities that has been around ‘forever’ – unchanged and still able to capture our hearts, minds and appetites. For Maori, it has always been a popular traditional food source and if you click on either Traditional Foods or Whitebait in the label line below this post, you’ll be able to read other postings I’ve made about whitebait in the Maori context.

‘Whitebaiters Never Lie’ is a fantastic Christchurch Arts Festival exhibition with a difference. It has taken 118 images from the book of the same name (also launched at the festival) by Murray Hedwig and Anita Peters, blown them up to billboard size and displayed them along the entire length of Worcester Boulevard from Cathedral Square to the Canterbury Museum. Hedwig’s photographs are stunning and there’s something surreal and intriguing about seeing them made giant and displayed within a busy cityscape.

It took Hedwig and Peters three years to produce their book – visiting popular whitebaiting sites throughout New Zealand to photograph, interview and document the activities of many of the ‘older characters’ still fishing using tried-and-true methods. I for one am delighted they did so. I’ve interviewed a few old whitebaiters myself and the stories they tell are fascinating. This is one book I’ll be lining up for. In terms of the exhibition itself, I’ve wandered along Worcester Boulevard several times now, always admiring the photographs and always fascinated to see how the public in general interacts with art in public spaces. This is definitely one show that is drawing people in and I’ve watched numerous visitors taking photographs of each other in front of the whitebaiters. It's just a pity it's not whitebaiting season and that there's none selling whitebait fritters from a boulevard stall. www.artsfestival.co.nz

Stories in Boxes

Christchurch. July 2009. Ajr

Waharoa is the Maori word for gateway and traditionally a waharoa is an ornately carved feature at the entrance to a marae. At the 2009 Christchurch Arts Festival Winter Garden in Cathedral Square ‘waharoa’ takes on a whole new meaning. The team from Wellington creative design studio, Dnation (Jess Feast and Robert Appierdo), have created “Waharoa: Storybox” celebrating people and place in a unique way. At the north and south ends of the square (on either side of Christchurch Cathedral), they’ve stacked 12 huge shipping containers (two sets, three-high at each end), to form a gateway into the festival’s Winter Garden performance area. Within the two top tiers of each stack, a video ‘documentary’ presents a graphic interpretation that explores layers of history, culture and the inter-connection of themes through time.

Christchurch. July 2009. Ajr
Running for 40 minutes from 6pm each night for the duration of the festival, the story boxes tell two distinct stories: Reflections of the Past and Visions for the Future. The Past story, Mapping Puari, presents a graphic interpretation of Canterbury’s colonisation, weaving together a fascinating, flickering, historical swirl of the people, objects, buildings, plants and animals that have occupied the area over time. The end result is “an interactive whakapapa of events and objects that have grown out of the physical space that was once Puari Pa.” The Future Mo Tatou, features interviews with four Ngai Tahu kaumatua (elders) in their eighties and four Ngai Tahu young people. It’s an intimate presentation sharing their gathered visions for the future. In the base of the storybox stacks, there are presentations from Animation Substation (sourced from the Melbourne Animation Festival) geared towards primary and secondary school children. I love everything about this terrific installation – the unexpected heft of the ‘brutal’ shipping containers placed beside the architectural finery of the cathedral; the visual confetti of Mapping Puari; the ‘visions’ of Mo Tatou. I think it’s brilliantly conceived and it’s just a pity it will only be around until August 9th. To my mind, it would be a far better public art investment (though impractical I’m sure), than many we have been forced to accept. www.artsfestival.co.nz www.dnation.co.nz

Art - Inside and Out

Christchurch. July 2009. Ajr

I was wandering through the Christchurch Arts Centre Market last weekend when I noticed this paint job on the outside of Te Toi Mana Maori Art Gallery, which is where leading Maori carver, Riki Manuel bases himself. In addition to Riki's carving studio, which has a glass wall so you can watch him at work, the gallery also presents a great selection of traditional and contemporary Maori paintings, drawings, crafts and sculptures. I don't remember the building being painted like this on the exterior though. Maybe it's had a facelift in the months I've been out of Christchurch researching and writing Frommers New Zealand? Or maybe some garden greenery has been removed. Not that it matters of course. The good thing is, now you can't miss it!

Meet the People - 20

Another in the Series Meet the People – Contemporary Maori Doing Ordinary and Extraordinary Things – Jo Tito (Taranaki, Ngati Pikiao Tuhourangi-Ngati Wahiao), grew up in the small village of Waipa, 5km south of Rotorua and now lives in Gisborne with her partner, Todd (Taranaki, Te Ati-Haunui-a-Paparangi) and two of his children. Both are fluent Maori speakers. “I learned a little Maori while I was at school – maybe an hour a week – but it wasn’t until I experienced total immersion back home in Taranaki that I became fluent. It’s definitely the best way to learn,” she says. Jo is very much driven by her passion for Maori language. It is at the root of everything she does – including in her work as an artist and photographer. “I am inspired by the patterns of nature as my ancestors were, but my work is not solely based on Maori culture. The spiral for instance, appears in my work regularly and while it is a common Maori design element, it is also seen in many other cultures. But I am very much driven by our Maori language and wherever I can incorporate this into my work I will. It’s a whole different world when your whakaaro, your way of thinking, is in Maori. This inspires me to create.”

"Kohatu (rock)" Painted rock by Jo Tito
Jo works in a number of mediums including photography, which she has been doing professionally and as a love for 15 years. Much of her artwork also focuses on natural materials like the kohatu (rock), which she hand-paints and the paper she makes from harakeke (flax). Many of her photographs are printed on her own handmade harakeke paper. “I’m passionate about the land and sustainable living; and by working in rock and flax, I feel very connected to the land and its stories,” she says. Her work has been exhibited in Rotorua, Taranaki, Gisborne, America Samoa and Arizona; and she travelled with a New Zealand delegation of artists to Palau in 2004 and American Samoa in 2008, for the International Festival of Pacific Arts. She’s won awards for both photography and fibre work; and while she was living in Taranaki, she curated an exhibition called “Wahine,” for the Taranaki District Health Board, to highlight the importance of cervical screening for women. “I love hauora (personal health and wellbeing).”

"Whariki (Mat)" Photo by Jo Tito
Factor in the writing of “Matarakau – Healing Stories of Taranaki,” a collection of Taranaki whanau stories on traditional Maori healing; research for another collection of stories looking at the effects of colonisation on indigenous peoples around the world; her own marketing business; digital storytelling, reading and self-development and you begin to see why Jo, 35, is a terrific role model for young Maori women everywhere. You can read more about her online here. - http://inspirationalwebsite.net/ Jo’s wrist moko (tattoo), shown in the top photograph, were created by Mark Kopua. The moko on her feet, legs and back (not shown) were created by Julie Kipa.

Contemporary Sculpture

Napier. May 2009. Ajr
When I visited Napier in May, I was delighted to come upon this contemporary sculpture by Maori artist, Para Matchitt. Entitled 'Heritage Fountain - Nga Puna Wai Whakapapa', it stands outside Napier's i-SITE Visitor Information Centre. I had thought the information centre might carry some more information about the work, but no, as is so often the case in my experience of information centres, they know too little about the important, obvious things right under their noses. Beyond the date inscribed on the work (1996), I'm sorry to report I was unable to discover anything further. However, you can see other works by this well known contemporary Maori artist, by clicking on Para Matchitt in the label line below this post.

Takahanga - A Place By the Sea

Kaikoura. April 2009. Ajr

When you walk through the old whale ribs onto Kaikoura’s Takahanga Marae it’s hard to know which comes as the bigger surprise – the laden apricot trees, the wafting scent of roses, the sight of agapanthus and dahlias rubbing shoulders with cabbage trees and olives, or the giant Neil Dawson feather sculpture swirling in the sea breeze. Sited on an historic pa site above Kaikoura township with panoramic ocean views, the marae and its eleven acres exude a welcoming sense of ‘homestead,’ of inclusiveness. And as you walk through Chris Booth’s geranium-clad stone archway onto a Michael Smither’s stone path, you could be forgiven for thinking you’d entered a sculpture park. In front of the main meeting house a cluster of gigantic totara sculptures created by Maori carver and sculptor, Cliff Whiting and the late Bill Solomon, provide a formal welcome. There are the pottery footsteps made by sculptor Bronwyn Cornish, the screen gifted to the marae by Lyttelton artist, Bill Hammond and inside, a collection of photographs by Wellington’s Ann Noble.

Kaikoura. April 2009. Ajr
On a site that has been occupied by Maori for over 800 years, it’s an unexpected break from tradition. That says Cliff Whiting, was always the intention.
“Back in the 1970s Ngai Tahu recognised that no new marae had been built for a long time and they saw the need to develop their cultural identity. Once the site had been agreed upon with the NZ Historic Places Trust, an archaeological dig was carried out, confirming that the original site was very close to the new plans in development. When it came to developing the garden, the local Ngati Kuri people were very much guided by the presence and preservation of original pallisade mounds,” he says.

Kaikoura, April 2009. Ajr
In a unique departure from tradition, Ngati Kuri, under the guidance of the late Bill Solomon, recognised their shared histories and the fact that since the early 1880s, many of their people had inter-married with Europeans. “Bill got the idea of involving pakeha artists in the development of outside areas and everyone worked together in a very deliberate way to integrate that inclusiveness into the whole marae statement. It was the first marae to do that and while some of the ideas have since been incorporated into Awarua at Invercargill, it remains the quite unique,” says Whiting. (This is an extract from a feature I originally wrote in 2005, published in Urbis Landscapes).

Art in the Street

Auckland. April 2009. Ajr

I came upon this sculpture on Queen Street outside Burger King. It's called "Te Waka Taumata o Horotiu" by contemporary Maori artist, Fred Graham.