From the empty void comes the realm of Te Pō – the perpetual night. In Te Pō, long solitary periods are flooded in shades of darkness: Te Pō (the dark night); Te Pō-nui (the great night); Te Pō-roa (the long night); Te Pō-uriuri (the deep night); Te Pō-tangotango (the intensely dark night). These are the names of a place where no light exists. But within this darkness come moments of movement – the conscious stirring of being, the beginnings of a change towards the realm of becoming. These artworks explore the dimensions of night, shadow and form that exist in the darkness of Te Pō, delving into ideas about states of being and transformation. Within the final state of Te Pō-tahuri-mai-ki-taiao (the night of turning towards the revealed world), we see the restless movements of life begin.
Mai te kore e puta ai te pō, arā, te mana o Te Pō – te pō mutunga kore. Kei te haehaetia ngā wā roa o te Pō e ngā tātiwha pō: Ko Te Pō; ko Te Pō-nui; ko Te Pō-roa; ko Te Pō-uriuri; ko Te Pō-tangotango. Ko ēnei ngā ingoa e whakaahua ai i ngā wāhi māramatanga kore. Heoi anō, wāwāhia ai tēnei pō e ngā nukuhanga itiiti – te kori hakune, te tīmatanga o te huri ki te ao tauoranga. Ko tā ngā mahi toi kei roto i tēnei rūma he whāwhā i ngā apa pō, i te ātārangi, i te hanga e noho nei ki Te Pō, he hura i ngā ariā mō te tauoranga me ngā huatau mō te panoni e pātata nei. Tīmata ai te kite i ngā korikoringa o te tauoranga i roto i Te Pō-tahuri-mai-ki-taiao.
