Te Ratana goes solo at the Suter
REVIEWED BY GAIL TRESIDDER
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Go in and spend some time with this installation, which like most installations, asks for our involvement and thought to understand its meaning.
Please - don't just hover on the steps, take a cursory look - and then move on to see John Bevan Ford's exquisite work in the next gallery. Go in and spend some time with this installation, which like most installations, asks for our involvement and thought to understand its meaning. A meaning which is likely to be different for each of us, and also has universal truth.
On the surface, we have nine pieces by Saffronn Te Ratana, a strangely beautiful asymmetrical forest of trees, their main branches made from cardboard, the newer shoots from paintbrushes, all covered, indeed splodged, with pale peppermint green paint. In the branches sit tiny kereru in shades of orange, green, cream and brown, moulded from paint. There are small trees and great old trees, the largest branching out from a thick bunched mass while others grow from the walls, one reaching the ceiling. Their leaves are made of plastic with stripes of dripped black paint. Technically, the whole is cleverly constructed, the skill apparent in an architectural extension of earlier Te Ratana paintings.
Much has been said and written about this celebrated contemporary Maori artist whose work breaks new ground, away from traditional Maori art, and at the same time respects her culture, family and history. Like many of us she has mixed whakapapa. Her mother's family is pakeha and on her father's side, she is Ngai Tuhoe from the Ureweras. The title of the installation, Pepeha, is an expression reflecting the character, identity and sacred landscapes particular to a tribal group. It was created for her first son, Maungapohatu - not only as a celebration of all he is born into but also for the possibilities his life will offer. He is honoured with this work of love that links him with his inheritance.
Te Ratana has created a forest of life, creeping, reaching, stretching and growing. I found it thought provoking and, as a Pakeha, equally meaningful to my own family, my iwi, their genealogy, stories and love of this land, Aoteoroa.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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