Using wooden letterpress blocks to form the kind of text associated with newspapers and proclamations, Vanessa Wairata Edwards creates kupu papa, or layered words, that explore how culture can be made visible. The suppression of te reo Māori and its transformation to include a written form are key parts of Aotearoa New Zealand’s history of colonisation. Edwards seeks to reconcile this fragmentation of identity in her artmaking. Here, she reveals how the hidden parts of kupu – certain letters, or meanings – can activate and connect with others. She starts with pū (used here without a macron), which has many possible meanings in te reo Māori, including source or origin. A puna is a pool or spring, but it also means to well up or flow. Tīpuna are ancestors or grandparents, while that word’s singular form is tupuna. Nestled between them is mokopuna, a grandchild or descendant. Bringing focus to the human realities of these words, but also to how they can shift and build others, Edwards presents language as a powerful current, changing and adapting, but also leading us back to our beginnings.

te reo Māori ~ the Māori language

kupu ~ word or words

tīpuna / tūpuna ~ ancestors, grandparents (dialect variations of the kupu)

He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil (from August 2024)