Kelcy Taratoa Te Tāhū o ngā Maunga Tūmatakahuki 2020. Acrylic paint on wall. Commissioned by Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
Kelcy Taratoa Te Tāhū o ngā Maunga Tūmatakahuki 2020. Acrylic paint on wall. Commissioned by Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
This exhibition is now closed
A vast painting by Kelcy Taratoa about how we are bound together.
Echoing the overlapping forms of the Māori art of tukutuku, this vividly coloured wall painting by Kelcy Taratoa weaves together a story of exploration and connection. Spanning 36 metres across Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū’s outer east wall, best viewed from Gloucester Street, it's about everything that binds us together, from the ocean to the stars. This painting, and another related wall painting inside, were commissioned to accompany the major exhibition Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania. Taratoa worked with the support of mana whenua to ground the work in local narratives that relate to discovery and whakapapa. Within the painting’s abstract composition are islands, a maunga (mountain) and kāhui whetū (cluster of stars). They relate to early voyages of discovery across the Pacific and how whakapapa (genealogy) can unite people in a common kaupapa, or purpose.
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Date:
Ongoing -
Curator:
Felicity Milburn -
Exhibition number:
1104
Related reading: Te Wheke
film
Kelcy Taratoa: Te Tāhū o ngā Maunga Tūmatakahuki
This timelapse video shows the installation of a vast new painting by Kelcy Taratoa about how we are bound together.
Echoing the overlapping forms of the Māori art of tukutuku, this vividly coloured wall painting by Kelcy Taratoa weaves together a story of exploration and connection. Spanning 36 metres across Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū’s outer east wall, best viewed from Gloucester Street, it's about everything that binds us together, from the ocean to the stars. This painting, and another related wall painting inside, were commissioned to accompany the major exhibition Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania. Taratoa worked with the support of mana whenua to ground the work in local narratives that relate to discovery and whakapapa. Within the painting’s abstract composition are islands, a maunga (mountain) and kāhui whetū (cluster of stars). They relate to early voyages of discovery across the Pacific and how whakapapa (genealogy) can unite people in a common kaupapa, or purpose.
Exhibition
Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania
30 May 2020 – 3 July 2022
Experience the Gallery’s collection from the perspective of our place in Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, the Pacific Ocean.
Exhibition
Here are the people and there is the steeple
May 2012 – April 2017
A big bright mural inspired by the challenges of rebuilding a city. Kay Rosen turns the word 'people' into the foundation for an unexpected 'steeple'.
Notes
Massive wall painting marks opening of Te Wheke at Christchurch Art Gallery
A 36-metre painting by artist Kelcy Taratoa is part of a new exhibition opening at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū on Saturday.
Notes
Te Wheke celebrates Ōtautahi Christchurch’s place in the Pacific
An immersive exhibition that explores art through our connections with the Pacific will be unveiled at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū on 30 May.
Notes
He Toka Tū Moana
The Māori whakataukī or proverb “He toka tū moana” uses the image of a rock that stands firmly in the ocean to describe someone steadfast and strong in their culture or beliefs, who defies all opposition.
Notes
Puta Noa I Te Ao / In the World
Artists from Aotearoa New Zealand are often well-travelled. Feeling the distance of Aotearoa from the world’s centres of art, they have often been drawn overseas to study and work, contributing to the art history of their adopted countries as well as this one.
Notes
He Ara / Pathways
Aotearoa New Zealand is part of a submerged Pacific continent, which broke away from the Gondwana supercontinent millions of years ago to create two major islands – Te Ika a Māui / the North Island and Te Waipounamu / the South Island.
Notes
Paerangi / The Fold in the Sky
The connection between land and sky is important in te ao Māori. In Māori creation, Papatūānuku (the earth mother) was separated from Ranginui (the sky father) by their children, creating Te Ao Mārama, the world of light.
Notes
I Tawhiti Ra Ano / From Distant Shores
The islands of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa / the Pacific were settled by remarkable ocean voyagers over many thousands of years. Aotearoa New Zealand was peopled through major waves of migration from the 1200s and later the mid-1800s. The seas of Oceania are like vast pathways; ever-present reminders of distant shores.
Notes
Ko Enei Tauira Ataahua / These Beautiful Patterns
From a present-day perspective, the appropriation of customary Māori art forms and practice by Pākehā artists can be disconcerting, a more-than-awkward crossing of cultural lines.
Notes
Kanohi Ki Te Kanohi / Face To Face
In te ao Māori, portraiture can encompass rangatiratanga (stewardship), whanaungatanga (kinship or connectedness), manaakitanga (kindness towards others) and whakapapa (ancestral genealogy). A sense of wairua (the spirit of a person) also resonates within these treasured portraits.
