The Ascension

Ka taea te kite i ngā tikanga ahurea maha i roto i *The Ascension*, 2020. Ki ētahi, he tohutoro tēnei ki te whakapono Karaitiana mō te pikinga o Ihu Karaiti ki te rangi i te rā 40 whai muri ake i tōna Aranga. Ko te āhua o te piki haere i te pakitara o te whare whakairi toi he whakaata i te tauira tukutuku, i te poutama. E ai ki ētahi koia ‘te arapiki ki te rangi’, kei te tohutoro te poutama i te uara o te okeoke ki te whiwhi mātauranga, ki te whiwhi mōhiotanga.

Kei te whakamahi a Michael Parekōwhai i te āhuatanga o te tokomaha i roto i āna manaia e kitea nei te tāera a René Magritte hei whakaatu i tētahi atu momo toi pohewa. Ka taea te kī ko tētahi te hua o tētahi, ā, kei te āta panoni haere, mutu rawa atu kua puta he āhua rerekē. Kua katia ngā karu katoa i a rātou e ahu whakawaho ana i te pakitara i te piki whakarunga, ā, ka karapotia katoatia e te pounamu. Kei te noho ki rahaki o te rōpū te manaia tuarima, ka ahu kē ia ki te pakitara, ko ōna karu e huakina ana ki ngā āhuatanga o te ao. Ko ngā kaupapa o Parekōwhai he ariā e pā ana ki te hāponotanga, te māminga, te tūturutanga e whakaata ana i ngā pono maha, i ngā tirohanga ahurea huhua.

*The Ascension*, 2020 plays on several cultural readings. It can be read as a reference to the Christian belief of Jesus Christ’s ascension into heaven on the 40th day after his Resurrection. The way they ascend the gallery wall also reflects the Māori tukutuku (lattice) pattern poutama. Often referred to as ‘the stairway to heaven’ poutama references the virtues of striving to obtain knowledge and wisdom.

Michael Parekōwhai employs the power of the multiple with these René Magritte-inspired figures that present a different type of surrealism. Each can be read as a succession of the other, a gradual evolution into another state of being. All have their eyes closed as they look outwards from the wall while ascending upwards slowly enveloped in a pounamu (nephrite/jade) façade. A fifth figure sits away from this group facing the wall with eyes wide open to the world. Parekōwhai is working here with notions of authenticity, deception and reality that speak to multiple beliefs and cultural readings.

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