Toi Tū Toi Ora Satellite Exhibition
Britomart
The exhibition is accompanied by the Toi Tū Toi Ora satellite exhibition in the Britomart precinct, developed in partnership with the Britomart Arts Foundation, which includes four new public artworks by Shane Cotton, Lonnie Hutchinson, Charlotte Graham and Lyonel Grant.
Ka whakatūria ngātahitia tēnei whakaaturanga ki te whakaaturanga whāiti o Toi Tū Toi Ora i te rohe o Britomart, i whanaketia i te taha o Britomart Arts Foundation, kei roto ngā mahi toi tūmatanui hou nā Shane Cotton, rātou ko Lonnie Hutchison, Charlotte Graham me Lyonel Grant.
Shane Cotton
Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Hine, Te Uri Taniwha
“I thought about Auckland and how people come from out of town, how the big city draws you in. Then I started thinking about places outside the city. That's when I started thinking about different mountains and landscapes and how when people come here, they bring a piece of that with them.”
Shane Cotton is the creator of Maunga, a permanent artwork that now covers the western wall of Excelsior House. The basis of the artwork is a series of 25 works on paper created by Shane in response to Britomart’s commission. He and artist Ross Liew collaborated on the translation of those works into the five-storey-high artwork that now occupies the corner of Customs Street East and Commerce Street.
Lonnie Hutchinson
Kai Tahu, Ngāti Kuri ki Kai Tahu, Samoan
“Whakapapa accounts for the way in which the earth, sky, oceans, rivers, elements, minerals, plants, animals and all people have been created. All things are linked through whakapapa, as well as having their individual place in the world. Ultimately, it is whakapapa that connects people to each other, to their ancestors, to the land and natural resources.”
Lonnie Hutchinson's work at Britomart references the Ngāi Tahu creation story, which features not only Papatūānuku, the earth, and Takaroa, the progenitor of the oceans, but a third protagonist, Rakinui. Hutchinson’s work at Britomart, Aroha ki te Ora (Lover of Life) is comprised of two sets of three panels, with one panel representing each of the three characters in the creation story.
Charlotte Graham
Pare Waikato, Pare Hauraki
“I like the idea of Te Reo Māori flying high, imbued with meaning and culture centred in wellbeing. To me, these works form a pathway of healing for everyone that visits, so they can summon the healing energy for their loved ones if they need it.”
Charlotte Graham has created a series of flags designed to bring the healing energies of Tangaroa (god of the sea) and Tāwhiri-mātea (god of the winds) through Britomart’s nine blocks. Entitled, Te Hau Whakaora (the healing winds), you can find this flag-based installation on Te Ara Tahuhu (outside Ortolana), Takutai Square and in the Atrium on Takutai.
Lyonel Grant
Ngāti Pikia, Te Arawa
“If you’ve had classical training you can be so enamoured with the tradition that you get subsumed by it. You end up becoming an imitator. The trick is to be an innovator because tradition is very powerful. You can easily be overwhelmed by it. A faithful copy of what the old people left isn’t good enough anymore.”
Lyonel Grant has collaborated with artist Tim Gruchy, the creator of SCOUT, the 2012 work in Takutai Square that takes a range of environmental data and uses artificial intelligence paradigms to translate that into ever-changing images on a vertical LED screen. For Toi Tū Toi Ora’s satellite site at Britomart, Lyonel and Tim have devised SCOUT: Wawata Hōhonu, a process that introduces images of Lyonel’s carvings as the foundations of SCOUT’s deep dreaming process.
Shane Cotton, Maunga
Drag your mouse and zoom into Shane Cotton's five story-high permanent artwork, Maunga that covers Excelsior House, corner of Customs Street East and Commerce Street.
Map | Mapi Taiwhanga
Photography by Russ Flatt
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Hīkoi to Britomart
— Sat & Sun, 2pm | 2pm everyday during school holidays
$25 or $22.50 (special Members price) plus service fees | Under 12s free with accompanying adult Buy tickets