I huti a Manaia i te ika and his heart was broken

Ngahuia Harrison
I huti a Manaia i te ika and his heart was broken

26 October – 18 November
Opening Wednesday 25 October, 5:30pm

Through a series of moving image, sound and photographic works, Ngahuia Harrison’s exhibition I huti a Manaia i te ika and his heart was broken begins at the Marsden Point Oil Refinery at the mouth of the Whangarei Harbour (Northland, New Zealand).

Speaking to the historical and mythological significance of this site for the Ngatiwai people, the work references the people and the narratives of this area as the descendants of Manaia Tuatahi, the paramount ancestor of the Ngatiwai people. Considering both the past and future histories of the landscape, Harrison proposes that there are not just different ways of being in the world but that in fact what exists on the planet is a multiplicity of worlds—further questioning what we can learn from these perspectives. As indigenous knowledge is called upon internationally to offer guidance in the global environmental crisis, the hope remains that rather than being alienated from or dominating the environment, we can return to aco-dependence with the natural world.

About the artist

Ngahuia Harrison (Ngātiwai, Ngāpuhi) is an Auckland based artist, working predominantly in lens-based media. She completed her Masters at Elam School of Fine Arts in2012, and following this established the gallery and event space Plaza along with Isobel Dryburgh and Nicola Verdon. Currently, Harrison is completing her practice-led PhD at Auckland University of Technology. The research examines Ngātiwai philosophies and the way in which these concepts can be applied to creative practice, with a particular interest in the understandings and relationships hapū have with the natural environment, particularly with regards to wai (water), water-bound kaitiaki and waterways. Recent exhibitions include E takarae ki te muri i raro mata raranga mai kaewa ki te rangi ko au ki raro whakaaro rangi ai, St PAUL St, Auckland, 2017; Show, Ramp Gallery, Hamilton July 2016; You can eat everything but the rocks, Blue Oyster, Dunedin June 2016, History in the taking, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, 2015; Generation Zero, Fuzzy Vibes, Auckland 2014.

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