| Art by Liz Grant |
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| ‘Bridge
to Nowhere’ (2002) 155 x 477mm, height 230mm The original bridge was built across the remote Mangapurua Valley of the upper Whanganui River. Not long after its completion in 1936 it was abandoned. In this piece, a giant native kauri snail (pupurangi) crawls to the end of the bridge with apparently nowhere to go and its future therefore uncertain. |
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| ‘Bridge
to Extinction’ (2002) 155 x 477mm, height 417mm A flax snail (pupuharakeke) reaches a point of balance on a bending flax leaf. Further movement down the leaf would result in falling onto the drawing pin below. |
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‘Nouvelle
Kiwizine’ (2002) 260mm diameter, height 205mm A selection of ‘kiwi’ native plants and animals have been ‘plated up’ ready to be eaten. The name for this piece references the french love for eating snails and the word for ‘fine dining’. |
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| ‘Bowl-a-Bird’
(2002) 174 x 255mm, height 174mm The simple act of transferring a huia feather from the head of a Maori guide into the band of the bowler hat worn by the visiting Duke of York, to Rotorua in 1901, precipitated the immediate demise of the already greatly threatened huia. The demand for feathers escalated as people rushed to ‘procure’ their own and be wearers of the newly created ‘fashion statement’. The huia was literally ‘bowled over’. |
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| ‘Hung
Out to Dry I’
(2002) 155 x 477mm, height 445mm. Private collection. Unprocessed flax leaves are incorrectly ‘hung out to dry’ on the aho tapu or sacred weaving thread. This alludes to the importance of passing the knowledge and cultural practices of weaving on to other generations as a taonga tuku iho or treasure handed down. A green lipped mussel shell (kutai) is used for stripping muka from the flax leaf. |
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| ‘Hung
Out to Dry II’ (2002) 155 x 477mm, height 420mm A collection of taonga (treasures) ‘hung out to dry’ on the weaving thread reminds us of the consequences if we do not act as guardians for them. Already, the sacred bird, the huia, has been lost. The phallic weaving peg represents the potential for life and the desire to bring back to life those elements lost and to energise those that still remain. |
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‘Waka
for the Huia’ (2002) 200 x 760mm, height 563mm. Private collection. A wakahuia is a carved lidded box for containing sacred huia feathers and other small taonga. This waka or canoe has no cover or means for ensuring that the huia feathers contained within are protected. They are consequently at risk of being lost, and is a reference to the extinction of the huia. |
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| ‘Kakapowai
I’ (2003) 250 x 180mm, height 140mm Kakapowai means water snatcher. A moment in time is captured as a giant dragonfly lands on a leaf of the hound’s tongue fern, growing near a stream, and then it is gone. |
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| ‘Kakapowai
II’ (2003) 260 x 90mm, height 500mm Again, a passing moment is captured when a giant dragonfly lands on top of a taurapa or waka stern, as it moves down a river. |
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‘Feather
Box, Papahou’
(2003) 410 x 190mm, height 105mm A play upon words. Another name for a treasure box (or wakahuia) is a feather box. Here, the box is literally constructed of feathers and the treasures contained are three huia eggs. Treasure boxes with a North Auckland provenance are rectilinear as opposed to the more ‘usual’ oval wakahuia and are termed papahou. |
 Lid on |
 Lid removed |
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‘Survey
Peg I’
(2003) 145 x 75mm, height 520mm A play upon words. This female tiki shows a face on both the reverse and obverse sides thus allowing ‘survey’ in both directions from a vantage point that takes on the form of a clothes peg. |
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| ‘Survey
Peg II’ (2004) 270 x 20mm, height 420mm Since colonial times land has been surveyed. Through the subsequent loss of land Maori have also lost access and control over native plants and animals. This survey peg references this change in land ownership. A Maori taonga the hei tiki on a European tool of land boundary demarkation indicates the position of Maori land. Letters, numbers and arrows inscribed on top of survey pegs relate to features of that boundary. Here Y 262, is actually the Wai 262 or the ‘Flora and fauna claim’ put forward by Maori, as referred to in Article Two of the Treaty of Waitangi, whereby rights to flora and fauna and cultural knowledge persist, regardless of land ‘ownership’ changes. |
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‘Flora
and Fauna’
(2004) 640 x 310mm, height 207mm The large and distinctive leaf base of the nikau palm is a great water collecting vessel on the forest floor, and provides the required damp conditions for native frogs to live in. |
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‘Cloak
for Sail (sale)’ (2004) 850 x 95mm, height 270mm This is another pun or play upon words. A fragment of a feather cloak, kahu huruhuru, is depicted as a ‘sail’ for a waka , but refers also to the sale or trading of cloaks in colonial times. |
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‘Tree
for Sail (sale)' (2004) 610 x 210mm, height 330mm Kauri was an important timber for boat building and furniture making. The evenness of the grain made the wood ideal for masts. As with all large old trees, the kauri supports a multitude of other plants and animals, all of which perish as each tree is felled. As land was ‘sold’ so too were the natural communities living on it. |
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‘Te
Ao Marama, The World of Light’
(2004)
350 x 260mm, height 450mm This piece is an interpretation of the separation story of Ranginui, the sky father, from the earth mother, Papatuanuku, and the subsequent entering of light, growth and knowledge into this world. The event of light’s passage, is represented by the takarangi or double spirals. Papa, is represented by the upper edge of a puipui, and the lower taniko edge of a kaitaka, represents Rangi. The
two parents lay in a perpetual embrace. Between them, lived their children
within the world of night, or Te Po. Over time however, the children
fidgeted and grew restless in this world of darkness, and eventually
decided they must separate their parents. The children were, Tangaroa,-God
of the sea, Tumatauenga,-God of man and war, Rongomatane,-God of agriculture,
and Tane,-God of the forest, birds and other animals. Each tried in
vain to push apart the lovers, but it was the lateral thinking and resourceful
Tane, who thought to place his shoulders down onto the earth mother
and push up with his legs, and finally brought about the separation. |
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| ‘Weevil
Knievel’
(2004) 300 x 100mm, height 280mm A play upon words. Climbing up out of this vase a weevil demonstrates great feats of balance, control and tenacity, somewhat analogous to the daredevil stunts of Evel Knievel. |
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| 'Frog-Fern'
(2004) 70mm diameter, height 75mm. Private collection. Both the kidney fern; Trichomanes reniforme and the native frog; Leiopelma archeyi require conditions of high humidity in which to live. |
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'Kokopu'
(2004) The native giant kokopu is a member of the galaxiidae family and lives in slow moving fresh water streams. It is also one of the whitebait species. |
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'Whisp'
(2005) |
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'Clematis in a Pot' (2006) (below far right) 530 x 111mm, height 1021mm. Maori women often wove the flowering vines of Clematis paniculata, or Puawānanga, into a wreath to wear on the head. The design of this sculpture and the ones below reference the plants in pots on the walls of Rongopai on the East Coast. |
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| 'Clematis Vase' (2006) (above) 220 x 170mm, height 295mm. |
'Clematis Leaves' (2006) (above) 150 x 150mm, height 50mm. |
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'Clematis Flowers' (2006) (right) |
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'Moth Orchid in a Pot' (2006) Named by a Dutch botanist because of its resemblance to a moth - hence the name, Phalaenopsis. A moth detail features on the sculpture. |
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'Pittosporum michiei in a Pot' (2006) 400 x 111mm, height 1008mm. Pittosporum michiei is a rare plant from Northland discovered by Liz's Grandfather, Ross Michie. Known to be the rarest plant of the North Cape, it is only found there on the serpentine cliffs. Nomenclature changed and it was later renamed. |
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'Lily Vase' (2006) 600 x 345mm, height 600mm. |
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