April is one of the busiest times of the year for Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi exhibitions staff, as the 'all galleries' Molly Morpeth Canaday Award comes to a close and the new season's exhibition calendar begins. Last week the Whakatāne Embroiderers' Guild presented its 40th Anniversary celebration show, Art in Stitches to an impressed audience of stitchcraft afficionados in the Sheaff Gallery. This coming Saturday evening the completed exhibitions Matua Fifine Tuai Matua Fifine Fuata / Old Woman New Woman and ORO will be also revealed in a special double opening.
A reflection of a generational Pasifika journey, Matua Fifine Tuai Matua Fifine Fuata / Old Woman New Woman draws on the family heritage of fashion designer and artist, Carolynn Tepou.
With four photographic portraits, Tepou tells the story of trans-Pacific migration through the lens of women’s experiences, with a theme of loss, hope and courage that is familiar over different cultures and times. Tepou's Niuean identity has always informed her design practice and an important focus of this collection was repurposing used materials and textiles in a way that reflects the narrative of her forebears.
"Conscious of the unsustainable practices within the fashion industry, I was inspired by the simplicity of my mothers, grandmothers, and aunties, and their ability to repurpose and recreate from whatever was at hand. These were items of beauty and I hope I have done their creativity some degree of justice," says Tepou.
While Tepou's works are heavily flavoured by the stories of her family's past, she also hopes to bring a message to the young women of the future, believing that to honour our forebears we must always pass their lessons of courage, patience and hope on to the next generation as well.
Three moving image works make up the aural and visual experience that is ORO, an exhibition exploring the resonance of sound embellished with dance, waiata and video.
Kei a te Pō te tīmatanga o te waiatatanga mai a te Atua. Ko te Ao, ko te Ao Mārama, ko te Ao Turoa.
(It was in the night that the gods sang the world into existence. From the world of light, into the world of music.)
Arts Laureate 2019 and choreographer Louise Potiki Bryant has worked in collaboration with Ariana Tikao and Paddy Free to produce Te Taki o te Ua / The Sound of Rain, a suite of video works titled Waikohu/Mist, Pakapaka/Drought and Āwhā/Storm. Each art work addresses a different aspect of the impacts of climate change on freshwater cycles in New Zealand.
Curator Israel Randell is hoping to develop an education programme for schools to go alongside ORO, encouraging students to respond to local climate change issues. "These are the things that are important to our rangatahi – we know our local creative youth have a voice they want heard in the debate over how we use our environmental resources."
Te Taki o te Ua / The Sound of Rain video installation was made with the support of Creative New Zealand and Te Taki o te Ua / The Sound of Rain performance was made with the support of Track Zero - Arts Inspiring Climate Action.