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exhibition Details
Te Toi o Mangahekea, 2023 by tā moko and public installation artist Graham Tipene (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Hauā, Ngāti Manu) draws on water for inspiration, acknowledging how integral it is to all life, and the many waters of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
The six takarangi or interlocking spiral designs speak to the cyclical life of water, from sky to lake, to river, to sea, to sky. Tipene explains that they ‘represent male and female; Ranginui and Papatūānuku; the Waitematā and the Manukau, the two harbours surrounding the Gallery; and finally, east and west, the coastal waters, thereby covering the whole motu’.
Together these designs speak to the interconnectedness of the environment, and our duty of manaakitanga, or care, as kaitiaki, guardians. Commissioned for the Gallery’s heritage project, Kia Whakahou, Kia Whakaora (to restore, to heal) Te Toi o Mangahekea brings to mind the whakataukī ‘He taonga tuku iho nō ngā Tūpuna’ – ‘the treasures passed down from the ancestors’.
Te Toi o Mangahekea, 2023 nā Graham Tipene (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Hauā, Ngāti Manu), he ringatoi tā moko, he ringatoi toi puni. He mea kapo te ranga wairua i tēnei mea te wai hei tūtohu i te hiranga o te wai ki ngā mea katoa e ora nei, otirā, hei tūtohu i te hiranga o ngā tini wai o Tāmaki Makaurau.
Ka kōrero ngā whakaahua takarangi e ono nei ki te mata ora o te wai, e ahu mai nei I te rangi ki te roto, ki te moana, ā, ki te rangi anō. Hei tā Tipene, he mea tohu e ēnei whakaahua te taha tāne me te taha wahine; a Ranginui rāua ko Papatūānuku; Te Waitematā me te Manukau, arā, ngā wai e rua e karapoti nei i te whare toi; otirā he mea tohu anō hoki Te Tai Rāwhiti me Te Tai Hauāuru, ngā wai ki tai, nō reira kapi tonu te motu whānui.
Ka kōrero katoa ēnei whakaahua ki te pāhekoheko o te taiao me tō tatou takohanga ki te manaaki i te taiao, otirā kia tū hei kaitiaki. He mea tono tēnei kaupapa, arā ko Te Toi o Mangahekea ki te kaupapa taonga tuku iho a te whare toi ‘Kia Whakahou, Kia Whakaora’. Ko te whakataukī ka tōia mai ki te hinengaro, koia tēnei: ‘He taonga tuku iho nō ngā tūpuna’.
- Date
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- Curated by
- Nathan Pōhio
- Location
- Building exterior
- Cost
- FREE
The koru forms of the takarangi or interlocking spiral designs represent flow, namely water flow, and the detailing within these forms varyingly suggest ebb and flow.
He mea tohu te rere o te wai e ngā koru o te takarangi, waihoki ko ngā mokamoka o roto i ēnei whakaahua e tohu ana i te keketu me te rere o te wai.
