Konae Korero #2

Ko Darryn George tētahi o ngā ringa toi o te whakatipuranga matihiko nō Ōtautahi; nāna tētahi reo i hanga mai i ngā hoahoa o ētahi kōnae rorohiko, he urupare ki te hoahoanga o te wharenui e whakapuaki ai i te kupu Māori me te whakapono Karaitiana. Ko te kōnae he kete hei kohi kai, koia hoki te kupu e whakamahia ai mō ngā tuhinga o tētahi kaupapa kua whakarārangihia. Kua peitahia e George te pouaka toroa o tōna tari e mau ai i ngā kōnae me ngā pūkete whaiaro, kua peitahia ngā tapawhā purotu pango e whā, me ngā tapanga angiangi, tea hoki. Nā reira kua peitahia e ia ētahi wā i karanga ai ia i tāna tuakiri i roto i te pango i a ia e whakamātau ana i ngā huarahi huhua e pā ana ki ngā kōrero mō te hanga i te ao me ngā kōrero mō te orokohanga o te ao.

Emerging among the hiko or digital generation of Christchurch-based artists, Darryn George has created a language from drawings of manipulated computer files while responding to wharenui (meeting house) architecture that expresses Māori vocabulary and Christian theology. Konae, the name of a basket for gathering food, is also the Māori word for ‘file’ or compiled documents. Regenerating his studio filing cabinet drawers of accounts and personal records, George has positioned elegant black rectangles across the four panels of this painting, which are intersected with pale textured tabs. In doing so he has painted moments calling on his identity in the blackness while also exploring the various ways we understand origin stories.

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