MARGARET AULL
NEW ZEALAND, TE RARAWA, TŪWHARETOA, FIJI
In collaboration with:
Leilani Kake
Tainui, Ngāpuhi, Kuki Airani
Elizabeth Gray
Ngāti Rehia, Ngāti Uepohatu Tama Ūpoko ki te awa o Wanganui, Ngāti Tūwharetoa
Toi is Rongoā
Mixed media
Video and sound: 6min
Toi is Rongoā is a rangahau based multi-sensory installation in collaboration with artists Leilani Kake (Digital/Video) and Elizabeth Gray (Taonga Puoro). Toi is a manifestation of cultural identity that is used to interpret and disseminate knowledge. Rongoā, known as traditional Māori healing, is an important part of the natural world where there are properties and qualities that can be sourced physically and spiritually to find balance. Consideration of binary codes such as dark and light, tapu and noa, celestial and terrestrial, peace and war, offers a way to navigate through such spaces.
Rongo is the atua of peace and activities over this domain in which he is typified through various names. Rongo-mā-Tāne, personified as the god of Kūmara and cultivated foods. Rongo-takatake personified the god of lasting peace. Rongo-rōwhake represented peace within the house. Rongo-maraeroa represented abundance and hospitality. Rongo-Hīrea the kaitiaki o ngā tairongo (senses) and Rongo-pūmau the reliable and steadfast. The impetus of Rongo concerns good health and wellbeing, both physically and spiritually. This installation threads in Māori knowledge systems of health and well-being through navigation codes, layers of digital symbolism of Te Kauae runga (celestial) and Te Kauae raro (terrestrial), and the reo of our instruments through sound and vibration.
Toi is Rongoā is an indigenous artistic response to goal 3 of the UN Sustainable Development goals on good health and well-being.
