The history of Tainui ancestresses Reitū and Reipae is a significant kōrero-tuku-iho in Whāngarei. Their story is remembered in one of the names for this place, Te Tauwhanga a Reipae (The Waiting Place of Reipae). This whakapapa reminds us in Te Tai Tokerau of our connection to Tainui.

In this exhibition we see again linkages between Te Tai Tokerau and the Waikato, through both the whakapapa of the assembled artists—Aroha Gossage, Star Gossage, Amorangi Hikuroa, Tracy Keith, Jeremy Leatinu’u and Raukura Turei and the overlapping interests that inform their work.

In a time of Treaty ‘settlement’ or ‘settling’, tangata whenua are often presented with landscapes that elevate division. In contrast, these artists draw on the strength of the ties that bind us. Their respective practices are vehicles for connection or reconnection—to language, to land, to each other.