MĀHUTONGA AND te wepu mmxxiii
17 MAY TO 30 JUNE 2024
Forde and Jahnke bring light from darkness to guide us home
Two leading contemporary Māori artists exhibit works of significance at Te Whare Taonga O Waiheke / Waiheke Community Art Gallery over winter 2024. Anton Forde (Taranaki, Gaeltacht, Gaelic, English) exhibits significant works from 2019-2024 alongside a new installation by his teacher and mentor, Prof. Robert Jahnke ONZM FRSNZ Arts Foundation Laureate 2023 (Ngāi Taharoa, Te Whānau a Iritekura, Te Whānau a Rakairoa o Ngāti Porou). Dr Kriselle Baker (Pākehā, Ngāpuhi, Ngāruahine), chair of Waiheke Community Art Gallery, says “Quote from Kriselle about significance of this exhibition and the growing significance of contemporary Māori art.”
Anton Forde’s Māhutonga – time stands still presents works in kōhatu/stone, Pounamu, andesite and basalt, carved with markings of Māhutonga/the Southern Cross, Raukura/feathers and Roimata/teardrops. These works are a recognition of and salute to our natural world, and the hope that humanity brings whilst interacting with her. One of the artist’s first memories is his father, the engineer on the Milford Road, showing him Māhutonga/ the Southern Cross in the Piopiotahi/Milford Sound night sky, telling him “if ever you are lost, those stars will guide you home.” Anton Forde says, “These works pay tribute to those whetū/ stars, and those permanently living with the stars, who allow us to find home today.”
Under the supervision of Professor Robert Jahnke at Massey University’s Māori Visual Arts Programme Toioho ki Āpiti, Forde gained a Post Graduate Diploma in Māori Visual Arts and a Masters of Māori Visual Arts with First Class Honours. Says Forde, “the significance and honour is huge for me to exhibit alongside Bob who is an incredible artist as well as a rangatira/leader in bringing contemporary Māori art into the light for generations of artists.”
Te Wepu MMXXIII is a stunning new installation of five works in powder-coated mild steel, aluminium, neon and mirror, from leading contemporary Māori artist, Prof. Robert Jahnke. In Te Wepu MMXXIII, Jahnke references elements of Para Matchitt’s iconic Te Wepu Installation, using layers of triangular and diamond light to frame its signature motifs while creating iterations of pattern into infinity – cloaked by reflections embracing star, moon, heart, mountain and cross, reverberating enlightenment as light emerges out of the darkness. Te Wepu MMXXIII is presented Courtesy of PAUL NACHE.
Jahnke says of this work, “It is often suggested that we live in a post-colonial age; nothing could be further from the truth. This suite of work is a homage to the power of image to reconnect a mnemonic tradition through space and time.”