Te Moana nui a Kiwa

 

This Aotearoa / New Zealand issue considers Moana today and features creative translations of customary arts from rural or island to urban contexts. See upcoming launches in Christchurch and Auckland

Special thanks to Kolokesa Uafā Māhina-Tuai and Luisa Tora for developing Moana content. Garry Nichols from Toi Māori has been very helpful, as have the local representatives on the editorial board, Damian Skinner and Warren Feeney. 

This issue developed out of a roundtable at Objectspace in December 2016. From this emerged the focus on the plastic lei as a customary object that has adapted to a diasporic urban setting. It reflects a cultural resilience and invention that can be found across the wide expanse of Moana. 

The cover image is from Reina Sutton who features in the online exhibition. 

Aotearoa

Weaving koha by Kohai Grace

Tears of Tāwhirimātea: Carvings by Todd Couper by Karl Chitham

The Handshake journey: I am the water and the water is me by Neke Moa

Taurangi by Keri-Mei Zagroblena

Michael Parekowhai’s Ten Guitars and Lighthouse by Warren Feeney

He Tupare o ka Kupu by Andrew Last

Moana

elinpwur by Emelihter Kihleng

Te Moana a nui a Kiwa: A sōlevu by Luisa Tora

The Mis-Education of Moana Arts by Kolokesa Uafā Māhina-Tuai

What we practice in private by Ioana Gordon-Smith

Tending relations: Lisa Reihana’s lei epic by Tessa Laird

Pearls for the people in Fiji by Neke Moa

‘My Grandmother’s Hands’ – Ōtautahi Korerotia. by Bojana Rimbovska

Hands on culture

Embodied history: Remaking and returning the midi to the Tolai by Lisa Hilli

Kete photography by Kirsten Lyttle

Taonga and photography in the post-treaty settlement era: A case study of photograms by Mark Adams and Areta Wilkinson by Damian Skinner

Casting shadows: Areta Wilkinson and Mark Adams at the National by Harriet Litten

Tuhirangi writes on the sky by Michelle Montgomery

Knot Touch: From greenhouse to gallery by Jaqui Knowles

Knot thinking: The Boorhaman residency by Chaco Kato

Composing decomposition: An exhibition by Louiseann King by Clare Needham

Visiting Christopher Duncan’s studio/shop in Auckland by Jane Groufksy

I like reality, it doesn’t terrify me. by Kristin D’Agostino

Lei at large

Rowan Panther by Tryphena Cracknell

Na noqu salusalu: Garlands in Fiji by Tarisi Vundilo

The lei, the garland and the daisy chain by Fran Allison

Contemporary lei and body adornment from the Torres Strait Islands by Simone LeAmon

Island Welcome by Belinda Newick

A Shanghai lei over: the plastic jewellery of Lauren Simeoni by Katharine Ahern

Mala: the garlands of India by Mitraja Vyas

The unique beadworks of the Embera Chami Tribe of Colombia by Ana Maria Parada

Place matters

Sgraffito Country: The ceramic art of Penny Evans by Freja Carmichael

And They Lived Happily Ever After: Object narratives from a land far away by Sahr Bashir

Hellenic connections by Vicky Tsaconas

Creativity vs. conformity: Rethinking design education in southeast Asia by Sali Sasaki

Anthea Boesenberg by Mark Stiles

Mosaic tile museum by Nodoka Murayama

Gallery VOICE-Ushida Collection by Tomoko Kawakami