Ahu Tīmataka/Trace Elements Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Ōtautahi Christchurch, 2021

Kawakawa is the most important healing herb in the customary plant-based medicine practiced by Māori, known as rongoā. Māori have used kawakawa to treat a wide range of ailments for centuries, and its gentle stimulating and rejuvenating properties saw early settlers substitute it for tea.

On a more symbolic and spiritual level. kawakawa is a life-affirming plant. used in birthing and naming ceremonies, to bless sacred ground and at times rest beside tonga. Kawakawa maintains an important role in tangi (funerals) surrounding the deceased as mourners carry these leaves and wear them in their hair to symbolise loss.

Respected Ngāi Tahu artist Lonnie Hutchinson has consistently worked with rongoā plant motifs throughout her career: Sista7 (2003) in the Christchurch Art Gallery collection also includes rongoā imagery. Ahu Timataka/ Trace Elements includes permanent rongoā plantings on the Gallery's forecourt gardens and this new rongā based installation. In both their real and symbolic forms Hutchinson’s rongoa plants express manaakitanga - kindness, kinship - and opportunities for healing.

- Nathan Pōhio, curator

Read the The Place Our Shadow is Cast, a response to Ahu Tīmataka/Trace Elements by writer and rongoā practitioner Arihia Latham (Kāi Tahu). Published in issue 204 of the Christchurch Art Gallery’s Bulletin magazine.

Photos: John Collie