Seeds of Creation series
Iron oxide, red ochre, was likely the first colour paint after soot, used on every inhabited continent since painting began. Swaziland's Bomvu Ridge, (Bomvue meaning red), provides evidence of it having been mined there at least 40,000 years ago.
In Aotearoa red ochre is known as Kokowai. Deposits of red ochre in the earth, are known as Takou (A. H. M., vol. iv., p. 103), and is the type applied in these works, personally harvested on public land in the Bay of Plenty.
The Original Testament account of the making of man from the red dust of the Earth. has always struck me as the single most creative use of dust/red ochre, and am to this day highly curious as to what a person 'is made of', and by way of what life experiences they got to be the person I meet today.
Creation stories abound worldwide. A frequent theme is that of the parents being separated by their children and bringing light into the world. Often there is reference to the shedding of blood during this separation. In Maori legend, Rangi and Papa, the blood of Papatūānuku/Mother Earth, is said to have flowed into the earth itself, and became red clay.
In Aotearoa RED has represented the concept of coming into being, symbolising Papatūānuku, the Earth-mother. BLACK indicates the realm of potential being, symbolising the long darkness, the 'nothingness' of many cultures, from which the earth emerged, as well as signifying the male principle / sky father floating above the earth. WHITE represents the realm of being and light, created when the previously contiguous parents were separated. Since making the works I've been told Te Arawa legend does not include this last aspect ... my source is clearly more generally applied.
It is with these meanings of Tangata Whenua, and therefore our primary Aoteatora legends in mind, that the colours of these works may be read.
Each work measures 400 x 400 x 32mm, and is hand stretched Belgian canvas on wooden stretchers. Materials are Kokowai / Takou / red ochre, gold leaf, metallic pigment and acrylic. Each work is priced at $595. They can currently be viewed in the Rotorua Lakes Council Galleria, along with other works in the Seeds of Papatuanuku series.
In Aotearoa red ochre is known as Kokowai. Deposits of red ochre in the earth, are known as Takou (A. H. M., vol. iv., p. 103), and is the type applied in these works, personally harvested on public land in the Bay of Plenty.
The Original Testament account of the making of man from the red dust of the Earth. has always struck me as the single most creative use of dust/red ochre, and am to this day highly curious as to what a person 'is made of', and by way of what life experiences they got to be the person I meet today.
Creation stories abound worldwide. A frequent theme is that of the parents being separated by their children and bringing light into the world. Often there is reference to the shedding of blood during this separation. In Maori legend, Rangi and Papa, the blood of Papatūānuku/Mother Earth, is said to have flowed into the earth itself, and became red clay.
In Aotearoa RED has represented the concept of coming into being, symbolising Papatūānuku, the Earth-mother. BLACK indicates the realm of potential being, symbolising the long darkness, the 'nothingness' of many cultures, from which the earth emerged, as well as signifying the male principle / sky father floating above the earth. WHITE represents the realm of being and light, created when the previously contiguous parents were separated. Since making the works I've been told Te Arawa legend does not include this last aspect ... my source is clearly more generally applied.
It is with these meanings of Tangata Whenua, and therefore our primary Aoteatora legends in mind, that the colours of these works may be read.
Each work measures 400 x 400 x 32mm, and is hand stretched Belgian canvas on wooden stretchers. Materials are Kokowai / Takou / red ochre, gold leaf, metallic pigment and acrylic. Each work is priced at $595. They can currently be viewed in the Rotorua Lakes Council Galleria, along with other works in the Seeds of Papatuanuku series.
Kokowai -Takou IX (the long darkness of potential being from which mother earth emerged)
Kokowai - Takou X (The long darkness / father sky floating above mother earth)
Kokowai - Takou XI (the blood/red clay of mother earth at separation/definition)
Kokowai - Takou XII (mother earth fully emerged)
Kokowi - Takou XIII (The realm of being and light created by the parting of father sky and mother earth by their children)