The most significant solo show of my career to date opens on Thursday 15th May at 5.30pm at the Toi Māori Gallery Wellington CBD. If you have been a supporter of my mahi over the past twenty years, nau mai haere mai.
The kaupapa of this exhibition is on the theme of healing.
Toi as a pathway from te pō ki te ao mārama.
Colour (which is light) as rongoā.
Symbolism and symbolic storytelling as rongoā.
Pūrākau attached to old designs as medicine.
Atua associated with our ancient symbolism and artforms, as unique medicine carriers.
LOVE (AROHA)
Healing through love for ourselves and each other. Love for our artforms, love for our traditions, love for our reo, love for our tūpuna, love for our tikanga. Love for our Mātauranga Māori, love for our Whare Waananga, love for our taiao, love for our rongoā Māori, love for the communities we belong to, love for our atua, love for our whānau, tamariki and mokopuna.
LAND (WHENUA)
Healing through connection to our lands and through practicing kaitiakitanga of our whenua. Healing from living and being tangata whenua and ahi kaa on our tūrangawaewae. Spending physical time barefoot on our significant places and pockets of land. Healing ourselves and our whānau through occupying and being present at and on our ancestral lands of spiritual importance. Healing through maintaining our lands. Healing through practicing our rangatiratanga from our special whenua and our unique places of belonging.
LINEAGE (WHAKAPAPA)
Healing through our whakapapa. Healing bloodlines. The continuum of lineage from ancestor to offspring and all that entails. Healing through the communities we belong to through our lineages. Healing through the ancestral gifts passed down to us through our whakapapa. Healing through our children and for our children. Healing through remembrance of our divine lineage going directly back to our atua.
I will have some taa moko special dates available inside of this exhibition for some of my Wellington CBD based clients. More details and exact dates to come soon, or email me on taryn.teuira@gmail.com to reserve one of these limited town spots at Toi Māori Gallery.
