Rosalie Koko, Mauatua Fa’ara-Reynolds and Aroha Matchitt-Millar in conversation with Israel Randell
Saturday 21st September
1 - 2pm
The gallery
Free
Aroha Matchitt-Millar, Rosalie Koko and Mauatua Fa’ara-Reynolds (clockwise)
Join artists Rosalie Koko, Mauatua Fa’ara-Reynolds and Aroha Matchitt-Millar in a talk delving deeper into the thinking behind the works in the exhibition Whetuurangitia, moe mai raa. Facilitated by curator Israel Randell this talk will provide a space for artists to talk to their works and larger artist practices.
Tea and coffee to follow after the discussion, bring your whole self as we respectively weave in and out of time in wānanga with these artists.
Artists Biographies:
Aroha Matchitt-Millar
Aroha Matchitt-Millar centres her creative practice on sharing customary raranga and kaiwhatu practices. In this exhibition muka is handstiched into wool blankets, creating a soft safe space that draws on atua wahine through a karakia written by Israel Randell and Arpege Taratoa. With whakapapa to Ngati Rangitihi, Te Whakatōhea, and Tūhoe, Aroha’s nannies were weavers, giving muka and harakeke a place in her whakapapa.
Rosalie Koko
Rosalie Koko (Ngaati Kahungunu ki Heretaunga, Taranaki, Olosega) has a diverse practice that spans painting and installation, building on traditional modes of making that are grounded in whakapapa. Rosalie examines the tension between pattern and figurative imagery as modes of expression. Her tiipuna created patterns with inherent connotational meaning, that influences her current practice.
Mauatua Fa’ara-Reynolds
Mauatua Fa’ara-Reynolds is Mā’ohi-Norf’k student at Te Herenga Waka, occasional poet, and tapa maker. She currently works at the Salient student magazine as a staff writer, where she writes about issues concerning Pasifika youth. Her poetry is fueled by mana vāhine and trans-indigenous networks of solidarity.
Whetuurangitia, moe mai raa
Aroha Matchitt-Millar, Rosalie Koko and Mauatua Fa’ara-Reynolds
21 September - 11 October
Whetuurangitia is the transformation from tangata to tipuna by way of stars, responding to current crises Aroha Matchitt-Millar, Rosalie Koko and Mauatua Fa’ara-Reynolds come together to process the unbearable weight of grief for those in Palestine.