Tension and precarity are not new concepts for most cultures, especially since the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Māori have dealt with these issues before. Great migrations, wars and the constant onslaught of colonisation have given us examples of how our tīpuna handled these situations.

Kua whati te rākau is a meditation on the resilience Māori people have shown in the face of these circumstances, and the adaptability needed to thrive on the other side of them. Artist Hōhua Thompson draws inspiration from pūrakau relating to the migration of ancestral waka Te Arawa and has produced these new works in his homeland Rotorua and his current home Whanganui, in collaboration with his mother and father.

Building layer upon layer, the interwoven materials and forms spatially explore a constellation of stars, highlighting te ao Māori and its multiplicity of storytelling, while observing the tensile interweaving of te ao Māori and te ao Pākeha which cannot be fully untangled from one another, with their histories abruptly intertwined.

Using elastic cord to precariously hold a series of pou made from recycled rimu in place, the contrasting materials meditate and observe the tension and resilience of Māori narratives which survive through time and space.