Otairongo

Ko te toi *Ōtairongo*, 2020 a Maree Sheehan, he ringa toi oro, he hanganga oro mō ngā wāhine tokotoru a Te Rita Papaesch, a Moana Maniapoto, a Ramon Te Wake. Ko te waka e kawe nei i ngā kōrero mō rātou he hangarau ororua i roto i tētahi wāhi pōuriuri o te whare whakairi toi. Whiriwhiria ai ngā whakaoro rumaki hei hopu i te tangata me tōna taiao hei whakapuakitanga honotia. Heoi, kei te pāngia tā tātou aronga ki ēnei whakaoro e ngā kōrero me ngā mātātuhi e hangaia ai e te orooro i roto i te hinengaro. Kei te rongo i te mauri o tēnā wahine, o tēnā wahine, ehara i tāna kōrero anake. Kua tau tēnei ki roto i te kitea me te tē kitea, i te rangona me te tē rangona, he mea e noho nei ki roto tonu i te tangata, e puta mai ai ēnei whakaoro.

The project *Ōtairongo*, 2020 by sound artist Maree Sheehan presents the audio portraits of three Māori women: Te Rita Papaesch, Moana Maniapoto and Ramon Te Wake. Their stories are told using sound and binaural technology in a darkened gallery space. Immersive soundscapes are woven together to capture both the person and their environment as connected statements. However, it is the stories and images that the audio creates in our own minds that inform our perception of the portraits. We are afforded a sense of each wāhine (woman), not just their story but the essence of their selves. This resides in the seen and the unseen,the tangible and the intangible, which sit in our inner psyche, where these portraits take shape.

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