A new exhibition shares the personal stories and archives of Indigenous artists, focusing on tino rangatiratanga, whenua, and whakapapa.
Meditations is the latest exhibition at National Library Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa and is an exploration of time and the creation of personal archives.
The four artists featured in the exhibition are Moorina Bonini (Yorta Yorta, Woiwurrung), Lily Dowd, Te Ara Minhinnick (Ngāti Te Ata) and Dr Areta Wilkinson (Kai Tahu).
Exhibition curator Israel Randell said she took a te ao Māori approach to the curation process by bringing the artists together earlier than usual.
“This collaborative method created a spiralled way of thinking that reflects the themes of the exhibition.”
Melbourne-based artist Moorina Bonini will be exhibiting for the first time in Aotearoa.
Her practice seeks to disrupt and critique eurocentric foundations of indigenous categorisation within western institutions.
Her artworks will use charcoal sourced from country (ancestral land), and text to form a counterpoint to a gallery’s traditional white walls.
The pou artist of the exhibition, Dr Areta Wilkinson, is showing Ka Taka Te Wā, one of her artworks created during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As part of her artwork Wilkinson used river rocks to shape and imprint pendants; embedding the whakapapa within the rocks into the ancient materials.
The past, present and future element of the piece refer to the non-linear concept of time in te ao Māori.
Another Māori artist featured in the exhibition is Te Ara Minhinnick, who explores whenua in her newly created artwork.
Her work focuses on re-representation, where whakapapa begins in the land and extends to the artist and her whānau, affirming tino rangatiratanga. This whenua serves as a site of evidence, a source of memory and knowledge, and a place of obligation to all.
Randell said the practices were experimental and held diverse perspectives.
“I am excited to see the audience’s response to these works and their themes.”
Meditations is open from November 30 to March 1 in Pōneke.
