Ko ngā kōrero mō Papatūānuku ka huraina i tētahi mahinga ahurea ki Aotea Centre i Tāmaki Makaurau hei te pō nei.
Ko te mahinga toi nā te ringatoi Māori rongonui, nā Lisa Reihana ka whakakitea i ngā papa matihiko e rua, e 65 m² te nui, ā ka tū koia tētahi o ngā mahinga toi Māori hōu nunui, hiranga hoki i Aotearoa.
"Ihi tells the story of Papatūānuku and her son Tāne. It's a Māori creation story.
“Often times we hear it from a different perspective but I really wanted to think about the relationship between a mother and a son, the transference of power from one generation to another,” te kōrero a Reihana nō Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine me Ngāi Tu.
I te tau 2018, i tohua a Reihana ki Te Kāhui Hiranga o Aotearoa mō āna mahi toi.
Kua horahia āna mahi huri noa i te ao, ā ki te Venice Biennale i te tau 2017, whakakitea ai tana whakaaturanga whāataata nunui ki te Pursuit of Venus [infected] (2015-17).
I waihangaia e Reihana te mahi hōu nei, hei wāhanga o ngā mahi whakahōu i te whare o Aotea.
“They were really interested to think about its place, its location, and I wanted to talk about the relationship between the ground and the space we’re living in Tamaki Makaurau, and thinking about this as a wider place, a cultural space and some of our histories and stories,” te kī a Reihana.
“As a woman I was really thinking about our stories about Papatūānuku, that she had many children, and so I've shown her as hapū, pregnant, and I wanted to bring that beautiful femininity to this story.”
I mahi tahi a Reihana ki ngā kaikanikani nei, ki a Taane Mete rāua ko Nancy Wijohn ki te hanga i te mahi nei.
“I wanted to work with performers because it's coming into a performance space and the work is a new very large video project which is presented on two LED screens," tā Reihana.
Nō Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Korokī Kahukura a Mete. He tino rongonui ia hei kaikanikani, hei kaiwhakarite kanikani anō hoki. He tamaiti noa iho ia ka tīmata ki te kanikani i roto i ngā mahi kapahaka, ā kua 37 ngā tau ia e kanikani ana, e whakangahau ana.
Nō Te Rarawa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Tahu, Ngāti Whaoa hoki a Wijohn.
15 ngā tau ia hei kaikanikani, kaiwhakarite kanikani, kaiako, hei kaiwhakahaumanu tinana hoki. Koia tētahi o ngā mema uho o Atamira Dance Company i te 2008 - 2017 i kanikani i roto i ngā whakaari huri i te ao, ā e toru hoki ngā whakaari nāna i whakarite mā te kamupene.
E tūmanako ana a Reihana, ka riro mā Ihi te tangata e whai whakaaro ki te awhi i ngā kōrero tuku iho me te rerehua o ngā pūraku Māori.
"I know it’s strange what people call mythology but as I've grown older I've come to appreciate the ways that these stories pass down ideas that are useful for us," hei tāna.
“So people coming to view the work now can work out what they can have as a take away from Papatūānuku and Tane and how they can use that knowledge for today."
Ko Ihi ka whakakitea whānuitia atu i te rā nei, ā haere ake nei.
Te kaupapa o te mahi toi
Ko Ihi ka whakaatu i te hononga ki waenga i a Tāne rāua ko Papatūānuku me te wehenga i puta ai te māramatanga ki te ao.
I te tīmatanga, i te piritahi a Ranginui rāua ko Papatūānuku. Ko ā rāua tamariki i mau, kia noho ki roto i te pōuriuri ki waenga i a rāua. Nā te kōpāpā rawa o te wāhi i noho ai ia, i tahuri a Tāne ki te whakamahi i ōna waewae hei whakawehe i ōna mātua, ā ka puta rātou ki te ao mārama, ki te ora. Whai muri i tāna whakawehe i ōna mātua, i tahuri a Tāne ki te tirotiro haere i te ao - he tātai whetū tuarangi, he rangi haumaruru, whakaarorangi te kitea.
I piki ttonu atu a Tāne i ngā rangi ki te tiki i ngā kete o te wānanga. Kei raro iho, ko Papatūānuku taurikura, he kura atawhai.
Ko Ihi te wehenga, te taranga, te kaha. Ko te māramatanga, ko te hihiri i ūngutu i roto i te maniore, ka rongo i tōna ihi, wehi, wana o te ora.
Hei tā ngā kōrero a Kirsten Paisley, Kaiwhakahaere i te whare Toi o Tāmaki, ko te huranga o Ihi he tohu mō tana awhi i ngā toi Māori, mō ngā toi tūmatanui ki Tāmaki anō hoki.
"I am especially delighted that a contemporary work of architectural scale is telling this timeless Māori story in one of Auckland most important public buildings," tana kōrero. "It is incredibly exciting to see a spiritually rich and poignant relationship between mother and son told in an active public space. Ihi, is a slowly revolving, cosmic journey which collapses the creation of the universe, as an ancient narrative that is at once alive and ever more present within us for Lisa's telling of it.
“This commission is ambitious, brave and entirely transforms the Aotea Centre. Ihi will have a profound impact on our public art environment and future ambitions. A new benchmark has been set.”