Korero Koe; Korero Au (You Speak; I Speak)

Te Kohurau te mauka
Arai Te Uru te waka
Arai Te Uru te tai
Poutaiki te pa tawhito
Oraumoa te puke
Marahii te whenua
Moeraki te turanga
Kati Parakiore, Kati Urihia, Kati Matamata oku hapu
Ngai Tahu, Kati Mamoe, Ngati Kahungunu me Celt – oku iwi
Ko Moana Tipa ahau

Communication patterns on bailers of ocean-going waka, and constellations of the night sky that navigated Maori across the Pacific ocean, continue to have resonance with the names set in this southern landscape.

A number of ideas prompted these works; the notes of J.P. Tipa (1896), about the waka Arai Te Uru and 138 ‘survivors’ whose names were given to rocks, outcrops, hills, ranges, mountains, streams, rivers and reefs between Tapuaenuku, Kaikoura, and Kaitangata in South Otago. Another was the celestial navigational pattern, ‘Te Ka o Makali’i” (The Canoe-Bailer of Matariki) that guided Maori and Polynesian voyagers through Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa - the South Pacific Ocean. Marks used in whakairo (carving) and raranga (weaving) communicate time, communication and location.

After unsatisfactory attempts to transfer names of the ‘survivors’ to canvas, I was prompted to stop and reassess. It was then that I encountered a current, a frequency, or a life still active within the names in the landscape.

Some researchers believe the waka Arai Te Uru beached at Matakaea (Shag Point), North Otago, about 800 years ago. Others say it existed only in the realm of spirit. Preparing this work for exhibition touched unexpectedly into the frequency of testimony - the resonance of a truth told again; about a people, a place and a time that lives with each telling.

The works have been made with the support of:

• The International Learning Connexion, Wellington NZ
• The Polynesian Voyaging Society, Hawaii (Te Ka o Makali’i – The Canoe Bailer of Matariki)
• Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Wellington (use of the waka)
• The Ngai Tahu Fund - research
• Arai Te Uru notes; (J.P. Tipa 1896) The Hocken Library, University of Otago
• The Forrester Gallery, Oamaru
• Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu – Arai Te Uru soundtrack (2000)
• Cornerstone Church Ministry - Temuka South Canterbury

Image: E toru nga ra , Moana Tipa (2014)

 

When

Location

Forrester Gallery