Louie Zalk-Neale

Louie Zalk-Neale often works with tī kōuka fibre, a versatile material embedded with generations of mātauraka. Tī kōuka is known by iwi across the motu as a water-resistant weaving material, a source of kai, a healing rokoā and a tohu that provides guidance in the landscape. Zalk-Neale makes adornments using tī kōuka fibre, often wearing them in their photographs and performances to explore whakapapa relationships between human and aquatic lifeforms.

In Tī-kore-ngoi-oro, Zalk-Neale depicts the atua responsible for creating the seeds of tī kōuka, held in the hands of gender fluid artist Jaimie Waititi and surrounded with freshly harvested tī kōuka fibres. Zalk-Neale reflects, “Taniwha, tī kōuka and tāngata irawhiti – we’re all still here because we can shapeshift. It’s the most beautiful survival skill I can imagine.”

tī kōuka ~ cabbage tree

mātauraka ~ knowledge

iwi ~ tribes

motu ~ country

kai ~ food

rokoā ~ remedy, medicine

tohu ~ sign, symbol, landmark, message

whakapapa ~ genealogy, ancestry, lineage

atua ~ deity

tāngata irawhiti ~ transgender, gender-fluid