Weaving the walk, 2018
The Performance Arcade, 2018
Wellington Waterfront
Weaving the walk sees the artist creating a path using a set amount of harakeke blades (stripped and halved phormium tenax leaves). As the path grows the artist inches along with it as she lays down each piece of harakeke. Once the harakeke runs out the artist must deconstruct the path behind her in order to grow the path in another direction or advance forward.
The weaving route is significant in that it crosses the old Wellington shoreline, before moving back towards the waterfront built on reclaimed land. The work draws on the history of the moving shoreline which has moved and reformed each time land has been reclaimed.
The performance also reminds us of the instability of that shoreline. The underlying reason for weaving in these works is to reinforce the value of Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge systems); Mātauranga being a stabilising force in the artist’s changing environment.
