The PC Way

A video work as part of my exhibition, The PC Way, held at MEANWHILE Gallery - November 8 - 25 (2017).

This video incorporates Winston Peters final Parliamentary address before the 2017 general election and the live coverage of the results of the election following the National party’s premature celebration.

Transportation for Life

A video work the accompanied my sculpture, Te Ara o Te Ao Hauāuru, as part of Hobiennale (with MEANWHILE Gallery) in Hobart, Tasmania - November 3 - 12 (2017)

This video work incorporates video footage of Wellington and labourers within the city and the waiata (song) Te Wai o Whanganui, which was sung after the proceedings of in New Zealand parliament where the Whanganui River was recognised to be its own legal entity. The significance of this relates to the original concept of my sculpture relating to the capturing of 5 Māori men in 1847 after a raid on a military base, in what is now Boulcott Farm Golf Club. One of these men was from Whanganui and passed away on Maria Island while in captivity. Using this song was an ode to his presence within Hobart, Tasmania

Fall In Line

A Video work commissioned by Ministry of Culture and Heritage through Transmit Media for WW100 commemorations of the 1917 Conscription ballot.

Fall in Line mixes found audio with film to build a narrative of the Māori war effort: of the opposing sides fighting for King and Country or fighting against Imperial subjugation. This film represents that duality between fighting for and against the crown during the First World War while also commenting on its effects among Māori and Pacific men one hundred years later. 

Back in 1916, the Maori Pioneer Battalion were a labour force building telecommunication lines, digging trenches, creating roading and infrastructure for other 'fighting' battalions. Fall In Line explores a link between those physical roles in 1916 and whether their descendants can be found today working similar jobs in roading, construction and civic infrastructure.

Te Ngahere Raima

A video work commissioned by The Wireless for Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori 2017.

In 1975, Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori was first celebrated. In 1769 Captain Cook, with the help of Tahitian navigator Tupaia, followed the Transit of Venus and sailed to Aotearoa.

Nearly 200 hundred years separate these events however, over the same period Māori shifted from a position of dominance and guardianship over European immigrants to a minority group under the colonial government of New Zealand. The Māori language has been relegated to a week of celebration, while English has become the dominant language in most public spheres. The Māori language, much like Māori land, has been stripped away from Māori over this period of two hundred years through the process of colonisation. Even though we celebrate New Zealand being a bi-cultural or multi-cultural nation, the effects of colonisation have had a massive impact on the way in which New Zealanders communicate.

This video work combines various oral histories, in the form of found audio, with video to create a singular narrative. This particular narrative uses audio that describes the effect colonisation had in its initial stages of the early 1800s among prophets such as Te Kooti, to a more contemporary and personal perspective of mine in 2017. These whakaaro are brought together in the title, a reference to Bob Marley's song about the depressive state of the urban environment, where the largest amount of Māori now live. This narrative focuses on waiata, specifically mōteatea, and how information is passed on by using te reo Māori. This method, of spoken word and visual collage, allows for conversation between different points in history. It is important for young Māori to know this history, especially those who don’t speak te reo Māori and may not know why they don't speak our language. My work aims to educate, in an accessible way, how we disseminated knowledge before the Europeans arrived.