Artwork Information

Ko *Mahuika*, 2001 tētahi o ngā tino hoahoa o te raupapatanga *Digital Marae*. He tūnga ā-puia whakarunga ake i te kanohi o te kaimātakitaki, ā, kei te muramura tōna panekoti ānō nei he tāheke tahepuia me te waro pango. E ai ki ngā kōrero nehe a te Māori, whiwhi ai i a Māui te ahi nā tōna kuia a Mahuika, ahakoa nā taua kuia i takoha ai te ahi i roto i ōna matikuku. Moumou noa ai i a Māui aua koha tae atu ki te ahi whakamutunga i whakauruhia ai e ia ki roto i te rākau kaikōmako. Ko taua ata nā Reihana, he whakaahua mō te kuia whai matikuku roroa, he kura te tae. He kuia turua ia, e mau pōtae kāeo pango ana ā, he rangatira te āhua, ko tana torona te *Wassily Chair* ōkawa nā Marcel Breuer e whakaata ai i ngā āhuatanga o te ao hurihuri, nō te tau 1925.

The goddess of fire, depicted in *Mahuika*, 2001, is one of Lisa Reihana’s most magnificent figures in the *Digital Marae* series. Looming volcanically above the audience, her gown glows like a the mass of lava and black coal. In Māori mythology, Māui takes control of fire by stealing it from Mahuika, who gifts her grandson fire by plucking flames from her fingertips. Māui squanders the gifts and Mahuika eventually places fire in the kaikōmako tree. In Reihana’s image, the old woman has long painted red fingernails. She is a figure of glamour, resplendent in her black turban, and enthroned on Marcel Breuer’s classic modernist *Wassily Chair* from 1925.