Ki Uta, Ki Tai - Atareta Rerekohu Black

Ki Uta, Ki Tai
Atareta Rerekohu Black
Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa, Ngāti Ruapani, Ngai Tūhoe,
Tā Imi Moriori

Atareta Rerekohu Black came to Te Matau a Maui to complete research for Ki Uta, Ki Tai. While she was here, she visited the Hawke’s Bay Museum Trust’s collection, getting up close to taonga from across Te Moananui a Kiwa and observing in particular, lashing and bindings on matau and māhē in the collection.

The resulting exhibition in MTG’s linkway references Atareta’s relationship with this Te Matau a Māui through Tākitimu.

Tōia mai ngā waka kawe i ngā taonga i takea mai i Hawaiki
Bring forth the waka that carries the treasures of Hawaiki

Mai te Ao Kōhatu rā ko te whakataukī i whakatinanahia mai, a, Ki Uta Ki Tai, he whakaaturanga e whakaae ana te hiranga mai ngā taonga tuku iho.
Kupenga me etahi atu taonga i haramai i Hawaiki rā kai runga Tākitmu waka.
Tauira ā ngā tāonga tuku iho, me te wānanga mahi kupenga i nga tohunga i tukua mai, ka hono a Atareta ki te kunenga mai o te tangata..

I toromai a Atareta ki te Whare Tāonga ā Te-Matau-a-Maui kia rangahau te kaupapa mō te whakaātūranga nei. Kei te āta mātakitaki ngā kupenga, hīnaki, me ngā herea a ngā matau me ngā māhē nō Aotearoa me huri noa Te Moana-nui-ā-Kiwa.

Ki Uta, Ki Tai hei whakaoho te rongo a wehenga atu, a hokinga mai, kia tau ai kia hono ai anō. Ko ngā mahi nei pēra i te hāereere wā aorangi, kia kawea mai mātauranga i te ao kōhatu a ngā tīpuna i nehe rā. He tohu hokinga mai wēnei mahi ki Ngāti Kahungunu, whānau, arā te hono ki te whenua me te moana.

Centuries-old whakataukī is embodied in Ki Uta, Ki Tai, an exhibition that acknowledges the importance of learning from taonga tuku iho such as those that travelled here from Hawaiki on the waka Takitīmu. By seeing examples of taonga tuku iho, and learning from experts who hold the knowledge of their making, Atareta makes works that connect to her origins.

Visiting Hawke’s Bay Museum Trust’s collection to research for this exhibition, Atareta observed kupenga and hīnaki, as well as binding and lashing techniques on matau and māhē from Aotearoa and across Te-Moana-nui-ā-Kiwa.

Ki Uta, Ki Tai evokes a sense of departure and return, of coming home, re-grounding and reconnecting. The works themselves are like time travellers, bringing knowledge of how tīpuna lived in the past. They represent a circling back to Atareta’s Ngāti Kahungunu whānau and ties that bind to the whenua and moana.