Leading artist Lisa Reihana (Ngāpuhi), has just finished one of her six public installations, from a series called, Kura Moana, with a focus on Te Moananui-ā-Kiwa , the great ocean, and its role as a connector between Aotearoa and other Pacific nations. This is part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts where Reihana is the festival's artist in focus.
Reihana talked toTe Ao Tapatahi about her inspiration to create an art installation about Kupe for Te Whanganui a Tara by talking to iwi about their stories and history around Kupe and his wife, Kumarārōtini. "We translated those into different types of installations and artworks."
"I wanted to take more of a feminine approach and focus on his wife who named the North Island Aotearoa but certainly also to investigate the giant octopus Te Fiki o Mutaurangi he chased, which led us to our islands.”
Reihana said she loves being given the opportunity as a wahine Māori to “live and dream and create artworks” and she uses the opportunity to research and dive more deeply into her own history and work with other artists and technicians.
“With this project, I wanted to make something really fun for the kids and I’ve made this crazy dancing gecko. It's something that brings out into the public sphere our stories and our aesthetics and things that we hold dear.”