Open Friday to Sunday 12 to 3 pm. Can open anytime for private appointments
Open Friday to Sunday 12 to 3 pm. Can open anytime for private appointments
Exhibition

Robin Slow - A Kanoihi Whakarite

The series of works that follows become ‘nga kanohi whakarite’, visual metaphors for many different manu, past and present that we share the whenua with. They inhabited this land before nga tangata (people) and came forth with their own iwi, hapu and whanau. Their lives and ways have become our ways and being and we see ourselves reflected in and through them. We reflect this back in the korero, waiata, whakatauaki, whakarite, (speaking, song, dance, sayings, metaphors, figures of speech) that are part of our lived and present lives.

Wherever we go they were before us
Wherever we go we have damaged their place
If the wellness of birds is the wellness of the planet
What dare we make of their silence?

(Adrienne Meria)

Sold out
Whakarite
Regular price
$4,630.00
Regular price
Sale price
$4,630.00
Unit price
per 

Medium: Scraperboard, acrylic, inks, gold leaf
Dimensions 104 cm x 66 cm approximately (Tryptich)

Whakarite
It is said that in the beginning Punaweko  (Land manu) and Hurumanu (Sea manu) each formed an egg shape from clay. These forms were then given to Tane who breathed over them and spoke the words, ‘Me whakaira tangata’ (Give it life). 
We have Hōkioi (Te Hākawai) the mystic manu companion of thunder and lightning whose home was in the darkness of the sky and who was the kaitiaki (guardian) of Rehua. Rehua who was often noted as the eldest son of Papatuanuku (earth) and Ranginui (sky), can himself be seen in the form of a manu in the night sky whose wings of stars move southward and westward, the latter being broken.
The series of works that follows become ‘nga kanohi whakarite’, visual metaphors for many different manu, past and present that we share the whenua with. They inhabited this land before nga tangata (people) and came forth with their own iwi, hapu and whanau. Their lives and ways have become our ways and being and we see ourselves reflected in and through them. We reflect this back in the korero, waiata, whakatauaki, whakarite, (speaking, song, dance, sayings, metaphors, figures of speech) that are part of our lived and present lives.
Wherever we go they were before us
Wherever we go we have damaged their place
If the wellness of birds is the wellness of the planet
What dare we make of their silence?
(Adrienne Meria)

 

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