Te Mata Kia Mahi

A collector of fine materials and of objects d’art or a hunter and gather are one and the same. The desire for the unattainable object to add to a collection is to satisfy the artist’s need for the material. The artifact acts as an invaluable resource for the viewer to gain knowledge of the past, and often is a way of seeing how ancestors lived and by seeing, to tell a story.

The question is how that artifact survives? What does it present? And what does it tell us? Or do we merely look at it for its aesthetic? Is it its aesthetic that will attract us, or satisfy our curiosity? By not knowing all the answers, the viewer’s curiosity is piqued and an intellectual exchange begun with the artifact.

There is a great connection between the past and the present, the old and the contemporary. The purpose of these works is to challenge, provide new ideas and possibilities for viewing works in different ways and to reach as wide an audience as possible.

An artist will view, search and digest things and then put them into an individual language.

Personally, I attempt to consistently answer the questions I face as an artist as I create each work. The process is not only one of creation but also of a personal journey.

The word tradition means, practice, usage, custom, culture, and folklore. We are often drawn to tradition or things of the past to address them in the present and thus, to understand where we have come from. To fulfill a connection, a reference, or to re-tell a story, makes it our own. Finding the key element to the essence of something can often be stating the obvious yet also forces us to celebrate its beauty.

Individual characteristics are what make one object differentiated from the other. It is that other that we all attempt to define. What is that other and what purpose does it hold to the object before us?

The object and the viewer work on the same level. The object preserved in a museum space comes from the past. The viewer experiences each object in a three-dimensional space in the present - aware of the movement of time. The objects are not timeless, but removed from their original context within space and time and re-contextualized.

Te Mata Kia Mahi is a mixed media show combining feather sewn paintings, lithographic prints, woven installations and contemporary made cloaks.

The poutama, step pattern is often seen on the rim of old korowai or kahu huruhuru cloaks. The poutama pattern is inherent in many of the works, reflective as it is of the past and holding reverence for the ancestral usage it represents. Layers of feathers are sewn into the canvas threads, arranged and placed to create the traditional pattern. The work looks at the history and the purpose of such an object held as a ceremonial garment for special occasions and often worn by someone of high status.

It is a comment on the tradition of whakapapa and of knowledge handed down from generation to generation. It predominantly looks at the duality of artifacts, cultural identity and personal adornment. It is hoped that the works provoke memory, yet at the same time invite the viewer to have a personal connection to the work. The presence of an object in an environment can be vulnerable in the experience, but the nature of the work changes because it is accessible to the viewer as they share its space.

I would like to have the opportunity to thank and talk about my experience of learning the skill of taniko weaving from a very special lady, Georgina Cairns. I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to learn the art and skill of such a weave and value the knowledge that has been passed down to me. I spent a time with Georgina up in her house in Ruatahuna, outside

It poured with rain everyday, and most of my time was spent practicing until I got it right. Little did I know that the larger the size of the garment the longer the time it took to complete. Throughout 2003 Georgina and I would talk about the art of making feathered cloaks, both traditional and contemporary. We would discuss dying feathers to match other batches and what we were both working on at the time. We also exchanged materials and resolved problems and experiences. It is this passing down of knowledge that is the most valuable exchange that someone can have with another person.

“Knowledge was passed from mother to daughter and, applying the ancient skills to the traditional fibres and dyes, women worked together to produce new masterpieces remarkable for their skill and design and for the amount of patience and application required completing each piece.”

Mick Pendergrast, Te Aho Tapu.

There was great fear that the last generation of cloak makers went to join their tupuna, they would take with them their knowledge and skills. However in recent years cloak making has made a remarkable revival and continues to embody the Aroha of this fine art. They are the threads of knowledge that hold the art of cloak making together and allowed it to survive the test of time.