Beat The Feet, SCAPE Christchurch Biennial of Art in Public Space, Christchurch Cathedral, Ōtautahi Christchurch, 2008
Commissioned for the SCAPE Biennial of Public Art, Beat the Feet is informed by and responds to two Ngāi Tahu pepeha (tribal sayings):
Kā Pākihi whakatekateka a Waitaha - Rākaihautū and Rakihouia, Waitaha
The plains where Waitaha strutted proudly
Ko ahau te takata. Ko Kuratawhiti te mauka Kākāpō - Moki, Ngāi Tahu
Kuratawhiti is the mountain home of the Kākāpō. I am the man that lays claim to it.
The work recalls the routes that Waitaha, Kati Mamoe and Ngāi Tahu used regularly across and up and down Te Waipounamu, along with mahinga kai (cultivation/food gathering place), with acknowledgment and respect for the mauri (life principle) and mana (prestige) of the takiwa (territory/region).
In the depths of winter in the low-lying areas of Christchurch it is not hard to recall that this city was originally a swamp. That was its attraction to Māori, for the sprawl of wetlands that linked Kaiapoi to Christchurch and extended out to Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere) provided abundant food sources and defensive positions.
Christchurch and the wider Canterbury region has a vibrant past of which few people are aware. There are only minimal visual reminders of any history prior to colonial settlement. However, we have a rich and intriguing past that extends back many hundreds of years before 1850.
There were few landmarks emerging from the mists of what was then essentially swampland. If the hills were obscured by weather there was no way of knowing where you were. That is if it were not for the tī kōuka (cabbage trees) that were carefully planted in significant places to mark out routes across the land like green spiky beacons.
Hutchinson designed and cut motifs and kowhaiwhai-like (painted scroll) patterns from Ti Kouka in positive and negative forms. These were digitised, morphed and animated vertically and horizontally to denote the routes of Māori on the Canterbury Plains. Within and along one of the routes Hutchinson included imagery of harakeke (flax), water, mist and birds denoting a mahinga kai. Hutchinson also drew on cartographic marks referencing those early routes on early maps of Aotearoa.
The digitised motifs were used to create an augmented reality experience in the cathedral via a rotating binocular station where the motifs were superimposed on real objects in real time. This was accompanied by an upbeat contemporary soundtrack that drew on the rhythms of Ngāi Tahu chants, karanga (ceremonial call), movement and dance, and featured interludes of sounds from nature.
Tī kōuka were prized trees for the Māori of Te Wai Pounamu. Aside from their use as navigational markers, they provided the favoured fibre for fishing due to superior strength and the kouru or new shoots were an important source of protein in a land where kumara (sweet potato) was difficult, if not impossible to grow.
The growth pattern of the Tī Kōuka mirrors the concept of whakapapa (genealogy) and the connectedness of tribal and local history. Our ancestors are closer to us than we may think. The land around us is imbued with their histories. While we cannot go back, we can learn from those who were here before us. Our present is formed out of our past. In turn, our future is born of our present.
-Megan Tamati-Quennell, Curator Contemporary Māori, Indigenous Art, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and Lonnie Hutchinson.
References:
The Ngai Tahu Deeds A window on NZ History, Harry C Evison
Maori Folk Tales of the Port Hills, James Cowan
Ko Tahu, Ko Au – Kai Tahu Tribal Identity Hana O’Regan
Traditional History of the South Island Maoris Rev. James Stack
