Heramaahina Eketone
15
(Ngäti Maniapoto me Waikato)
“E aha ana te aha?” (What’s going on?) Acrylic, Custom Board and Rimu
This work was made as part of the Art+Oceans collaborative art and science project 2018. There are two works of art which make up this exhibition piece. Combined they are “E aha ana te aha?” (What’s going on?)
Ngā Kaitiaki, Poupou carved from Custom board with acrylic paint
There are three Kaitiaki (guardians of the ocean), the most famous being Tangaroa with Kiwa on his right and Kaukau on his left. Hinemoana, the personified form of the ocean, is represented through the colours used. Tinirau, in some körero, is the son of Tangaroa who is represented at the bottom of the carving close to his pet whale Tutunui. The pätiki (flounder) designs painted onto the carving are a memorial to the decline of this food source, from the time when 70 fisherman on the Otago harbour made their living from the catch, to there being none today. This poupou is standing above the broken patu essentially asking you, me, us, “What’s going on? Why is this patu broken? Why do you continue to allow my children to be poisoned?”
Patu carved from Rimu, “He pōtiki whatiwhati toki” – a child who breaks the adze
Although this patu is clearly not an adze the analogy is obvious. Like the mischievous child, who has either purposefully or accidentally broken a treasure that cannot be easily fixed or replaced, the human race, in all its carelessness, has taken our taonga - the ocean, the rivers, the earth - and have managed to do irrefutable damage letting such waste into the environment that a simple and beautiful thing such as rainfall allows more human shit (literally) to flow into our waters and percolate into our kaimoana. My questions to you - “Is this broken carving still a taonga?” And “Can we fix this?
