Room to breathe: Ka tau hā te mauri by Martin Awa Clarke Langdon (Kāi Tahu, Waikato-Tainui) is an exhibition comprising three distinct but interwoven collaborative art projects: What’s in a name?, To hold up the sky, and Kōhatu. Each of the projects involves relationships to materials, places, and peoples. Local histories, and in particular the creation of a staged Māori pā, “Te Ariateuru” for the 1906-7 New Zealand International Exhibition, form the conceptual base from which each project was conceived and developed.

Each project approaches histories as remembered, lived, and ongoing processes of negotiation. What’s in a name? is a collaboration with Ararira Springs Primary School students who are working with kōrari (flax stalk) to understand the power of naming and think through the connections between identity and language. Their finished “lashed” works will be displayed in the gallery.

To hold up the sky includes the work of five indigenous artists from Aotearoa New Zealand, Niue, Australia, United States of America, and Canada. The artists were invited by Langdon to create a space between land and sky with found and significant objects they had to hand.

Finally, Kōhatu is a collaboration between Langdon and staff from the Christchurch Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora, which seeks to tell the journeys of a selection of kōhatu (rocks) currently stored for future restoration of the buildings within the complex. These rocks will be moved to positions outside The Physics Room to provide places to reflect on the site and surrounding environment. These collaborations are embodied processes; as we know more and experience the perspectives of others, the tangibly known and seen become tied, frayed, separated, and severed.

Times

  • Tuesday to Friday: 11am to 5pm
    Saturday and Sunday: 11am to 4pm
    Monday and public holidays: Closed