Press Release

“Ko te au wai ko te au tangata” The currents of water connect and nourish the currents of our people

“Ka ora te wai ka ora te tangata” A healthy water source is essential to our physical and spiritual health

The significance of the flow of water to human endeavour cannot be understated—prings, streams, rivers and oceans are sources of food and sustenance, routes for voyaging and trade, and repositories of spiritual knowledge and identity.

 

 

International Archives 2nd half of 2022

Te Au : Liquid Constituencies

Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth (New Zealand)
03.12.2022 - 20.03.2023

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Te Au: Liquid Constituencies gathers works by artists who are engaging in significant relationships with water, and tracks not only our dependency on water, but the ways in which we share and must protect water in its many forms.

Bringing together eleven artists and artist collectives, Te Au takes its central theme from the rotating currents of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa (Pacific Ocean). These currents flow from the unique landscape of Taranaki, move down Te Ika-a-Māui to Horowhenua and the Kāpiti Coast in Aotearoa New Zealand, course past Antarctica and Patagonia, Tuvalu and Tonga among many other island nations, and along the Australian coastline.

The variety of works on view draw upon forms of local and ancestral knowledge, as well as legal frameworks and notions of justice in relation to the natural world, to advocate and act for change.

Developed by a curatorium from within Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, Te Au takes a multidisciplinary approach to connecting art and action—rtists similarly employ a range of media  to invite consciousness of our varied inter-relations to water, and to each other.

“Our most precious natural resource water is a recurring theme in the work of many contemporary artists. This exhibition draws on recent work by artists working around the Pacific to propose ways in which we can understand, protect and deepen relationships with the bodies of water that surround us,”says the exhibition’ curators.

“The project arises from asking how the Govett-Brewster can be a forum for imagining shared futures, and is the start of many conversations with Mana Whenua, scientists, researchers, educators, artists, and others. These conversations are intended to support the preservation of our most significant natural resource across in the time of a climate emergency,”says Govett-Brewster Director Zara Stanhope.

Artists: Bonita Bigham, Megan Cope, Erub Arts, Ruha Fifita, Taloi Havini, INTERPRT, Marí Francisca Montes Zúiga, Angela Tiatia, Te Waituhi āNuku: Drawing Ecologies, Arielle Walker

Curatorium: Zara Stanhope, Simon Gennard, Ruth McDougall, Beatriz Bustos Oyanedel, Huhana Smith and Megan Tamati-Quennell

Kuku Biochar Project & Waikōkopu stream restoration, Te Waituhi ā Nuku: Drawing Ecologies group, working alongside the Deep South National Science Challenge, Phase 3: Manaaki i ngā taonga i tukua mai e ngā tupuna: investigating action-oriented climate change transitions to water-based land uses that enhance taonga species, 2020–2022. Photo: Maija Stephens. Courtesy of the artists.

Exhibition 03 December 2022 - 20 March 2023. Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Corner King and Queen Streets - New Plymouth 4342 (New Zealand). Hours: Monday–Sunday 10am–5pm

 

 

 

 

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