Māori artists answer the Call of Taranaki

Twenty five leading contemporary Māori artists answer the Call of Taranaki

Twenty five leading contemporary Māori artists, all of whom whakapapa back to iwi in the Taranaki region, are answering the Call of Taranaki in an exhibition at Puke Ariki museum from August as part of the region’s International Arts Festival.

The exhibition, which runs from 16 August to 17 November, features artists who, through sculpture, weaving, mixed media, photography, clay and painting, celebrate their connections to Taranaki and the magnetic pull of te mounga.

For some of the artists Taranaki has always been home, many are merely returning after a brief time away but for others the absence spans generations.

“These are some outstanding contemporary visual artists who have always claimed Taranaki descent but many of them have never come home. This is their chance,” says curator and featured artist Darcy Nicholas.

Conflict, dislocation, economics and opportunity have been contributing factors to the scattering of these artists or their tupuna. And yet regardless of the reasons that many may reside elsewhere, the people, the region and the mountain still resonate in their lives.

Taranaki has a rich and tumultuous history and Puke Ariki Tumuaki Director Kelvin Day sees Call of Taranaki as building on previous exhibitions including Taranaki War and Mutunga which told aspects of the region’s past.

“These artists bring another perspective to this dialogue. Through their work they help us question issues of history, identity and transition as they navigate between traditional and contemporary world.”

Mr Nicholas added that featured artist Rangi Kipa often does this by merging customary Māori art traditions with contemporary mediums. In recent bodies of work he offers new interpretations of Māori icons including tiki and fish hooks, creating highly-crafted, elegant taonga using brightly coloured corian or resin, reaffirming their place for 21st-century Māori.

The artists’ whakapapa manifests in many and varied ways in Call of Taranaki. The exhibition has prompted weaver Veranoa Hetet to finish an uncompleted kakahu begun by her late mother (Erenora Puketapu-Hetet), allowing this master weaver to also to have a presence in the exhibition.

Other artists use Taranaki iconography within their work. Maria Brockhill takes Māori clay art to another dimension with her brilliant glazes and clay forms based on the Taranaki landscape and environment.

All the artists featured in Call of Taranaki have exhibited nationally and internationally.

Featured artists are: Rangi Kipa, Hemi Sundgren, Rex Homan, Brett Rangitaawa, Barry Te Whatu, Simon Lardelli, Kōhai Grace, Ranui Ngārimu, Tracey Huxford, Rose White-Tahuparae, Pip Devonshire, Veranoa Hetet, Donna Campbell, Erica Muna Lee, Ngaahina Hohaia, Ngātai Tāepa, Matthew Macintyre-Wilson, Tania Niwa, Wī Tāepa, Maria Brockhill, Star Gossage, Cyril Tamati, Gabrielle Belz, Darcy Nicholas, Te Rongo Kirkwood.

As part of the Taranaki International Arts Festival for the first two weeks of the exhibition a number of the artists will be working in the exhibition space and a public programme will run for the length of the exhibition.

This exhibition is a collaboration between Puke Ariki, Taranaki International Arts Festival and Toi Māori Aotearoa .

ENDS

© Scoop Media