Two new projects commissioned by Te Tuhi and curated by Janine Randerson are now live online as an extension of the participation of artists from around Te Moana Nui a Kiwa in the World Weather Network – a world-wide project in response to the global climate emergency.

The two new artist’s projects; Jae Hoon Lee’s Ocean Rain and Tia Barrett’s Tūhononga (Cluster and Connection) are launched today to coincide with Turu, the time of the full moon. Further phases of these two projects will be launched at equinox, solstice and significant lunar moments, joining the original six commissions along the cycle of the Maramataka, the Māori Seasonal Calendar.

The first of a two part project Jae Hoon Lee’s film, Ocean Rain Part 1 explores the mushroom-like stone formations created by geological forces in Taiwan’s Yehliu Geopark, filmed on a stormy day.

The weather conditions and large seas have altered the geography into uncanny landforms that the artist speculates could become stranger still as the climate drives larger seas and erodes the coastline.

Exploring live weathers and simulated weathers and the layered dichotomy between the two; the real and imaginative, the film links the coast of Taiwan (one ancestral homeland of Moana peoples) and the migration of seabirds to Aotearoa New Zealand from across Moana Nui A Kiwa (Great Ocean Of Kiwa).

Tia Barrett (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Mamoe, Te Rapuwai, Waitaha, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Tamainupō) launches a new film as the first of her two part project Tūhononga (Cluster and Connection).

Developed through an ongoing observational learning journey in Te Wai Pounamu (South Island of New Zealand), this new film showcases footage assembled during a recent collective hīkoi (walk) from Waitaki to Aoraki.

As part one of Tūhononga (Cluster and Connection), the film records the appearances, sensations, and sounds of specific moments and weathers significant to Barrett during the hīkoi.

Across Tūhononga (Cluster and Connection), Barrett explores the question: "what pūrākau (stories) from our past can we draw upon to benefit the future of our whenua (land)? And how can toi Māori (Māori arts) serve as a means to translate this message into action?"


Learn more about the World Weather Network.

IMAGES:
Jae Hoon Lee, Ocean Rain Part 1, 2023 (still), video, 10mins 43secs. Image courtesy of the artist.
Tia Barrett, Haukū, still from Tūhononga (Cluster and Connection), 2023, video, 4 mins 15 secs. Image courtesy of the artist.

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