Bianca Hyslop, Rowan Pierce and Tūī Matira Ranapiri Ransfield
5 - 26 June
Te mana, te ihi, te wehi, te wana
Te Mauri o Pōhutu is a new series of collaborative installation and time-based artworks by Bianca Hyslop, Rowan Pierce and Tūī Matira Ranapiri Ransfield.
The exhibition responds to the loss of mātauranga Māori due to cultural interruption and assimilation. It is a sensual offering that addresses the fragility of memory, connection to whenua and reclamation of culture from within foreign frameworks.
Bianca’s grandmother Ramari Rangiwhiua Morrison (Ginger) was born in Te Whakarewarewatanga-o-te-ope-tauā-a-Wahiao, Rotorua. Whakarewarewa is situated on a geo-thermal double fault line and is home to Pōhutu; the Southern Hemisphere’s largest active geyser. Ginger now has Alzheimers. Ginger is of a generation who were strongly deterred from passing on the lived experience, language and culture of Te Ao Māori. Therefore, the lineage of her memories and knowledge have been interrupted for her descendants. This experience of cultural interruption is one shared by many here in Aotearoa. The notion of progressing our attitude to cultural co-existence isn’t just important to us in Aotearoa. In our increasingly globalised world, acts of cultural empathy and synergy are essential to all of us.
Together the works are housed in an intimate space that acts as a fragile yet powerful container. There is a palpable tension in the collision of materiality in the works. Between the industrial/utilitarian structures and the soft hue of the video artwork, the hard and the amorphous, the rigid and the fluid and in the futile attempt of containment. This tension is deliberate. They are the tensions that sit at the intersection of colonial and indigenous culture that we need to face and even lean into in order to discover new ways of progressing.
The space is interrupted approximately every hour and 10 minutes. The interruption will cause the space to shift through sound and light, mimicking the rhythm of Pōhutu herself.
Public Programme
Through scheduled activations performers Bianca Hyslop and Paige Shand will co-inhabit the gallery space
to perform a live activation through the modality of dance.
Performances: 2pm Saturday 12, 19 June
26 June cancelled due to Alert Level 2
Te Mauri o Pōhutu will be installed and exhibited at Toi Pōneke Gallery opening the Kia Mau Festival which runs 4 – 19 June 2021.
