Pare To My Place, 2017

Ko te hakituri nei he hēteri i te whenua kārangaranga, i te whenua pohewa e whātoro tawhiti ana. Ko tētahi o ngā āhuatanga o ngā toi peita a John Walsh he whakauruuru i ngā tāngata me ngā kararehe kē atu, i ngā waitohu e hāngai ana ki ngā kaupapa o te wā, ki te hītori koroniara, ki ngā kōrero tuku iho a te Māori, ka mutu ka hangaia te taiao mā ngā wairua e pōteretere ana mai i te ao o tua whakarere, ki te ao e mōhio nei tātou ināianei.

He ōrite te tae o te rangi me te tangata e kitea nei, e whakaatu ana i tōna āhua tipua, i tōna hononga ki ngā rangi. Kei te kitea tētahi hoahoa nō te tākaro whai, he tākaro i takea mai ai i a Māui, arā ki ētahi he āhuatanga e whakaatu ana, e whakamātautau ana i te mātauranga. Ko te tikanga, kei te tūtohua te taiao whakawhiti me te haerenga atu i te mana o tētahi atua, ki te mana o tētahi atu; Ko te pare i konei, he āhua e whakarite ana i te urungawaharoa, ka mutu e kitea ana te tūhononga o te tangata ki te whenua, te tūhononga o te Ao Mārama ki a Rarohenga.

A mythical figure guards the threshold to a surreal, reverberating landscape stretching out into the distance. Populated by anthropomorphic creatures, John Walsh’s floating, ethereal paintings incorporate motifs inspired by contemporary events, colonial history and Māori mythology to create spirit-inhabited landscapes that seem to hauntingly float between past and present.

Painted the same colour as the sky, the figure here is linked to the heavens as a demigod. He brandishes a pattern made by the string game whai, the origins of which are linked to Māui and which was considered a way to demonstrate and test knowledge. Traditionally marking a transitional zone and the passage from the domain of one god to another, here the pare (lintel) becomes a metaphorical gateway signifying the relationship between an individual and the land, the lived and the underworld.

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