Takoto ai te marino: Te hokinga mai, by Raukura Turei (Ngā Rauru Kītahi, Taranaki Iwi, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki), is a series of paintings on linen of varying sizes and scales, made using pigments collected from sites to which Turei has whakapapa connections. Each painting was made using a binder and materials gathered from Te Tai-o-Rehua and Tīkapakapa Moana, namely blue aumoana clay, black iron onepū (sand) and kerewhenua (yellow clay).
Turei, alongside her whānau, sang to the work to welcome it home to Tāmaki Makaurau. These paintings have been on a journey across the motu from the Suter (Whakatū Nelson) and The Dowse Art Museum (Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai Lower Hutt). This was by far the most beautiful presentation, not just because of the physical connection to the whenua and Turei’s whānau, but also because Season’s gallery space emanates natural light. This light allows for the works to shift and change during the day, which alludes to the moving earth beneath our feet, and reminds us of the mauri, or sentience, inherent in the materiality of the work. Although structurally embedded in the craters of the canvases, the light refracts, glimmers and glows, making the whenua and onepū dance. Hineukurangi (aumoana) (2023) appears to shimmer, like the way the sea laps backwards and forwards on the shoreline leaving traces as it recoils. Te au o Tīkapa II (2024) reminded me of pātiki, or flounder, the whenua on the canvas glistening like fish skin. When the demigod Māui fished up Te Ika-a- Māui, it too was said to be a flounder.
My sister Miriama remarked that she wanted to rub her feet all over the paintings, while I contemplated rubbing my hands all over and eating every single surface. Takoto ai te marino: Te hokinga mai was a tactile, dynamic and (honestly) delicious exhibition.
