Kezia Whakamoe
-in her own words
Drawing on elements our tīpuna used in ritual and ceremony, Kezia Whakamoe uses kōkōwai alongside a multitude of other natural materials in her art practice. In July 2021, Hastings Community Art Centre was transformed into AUKATI, a large-scale installation, and art performance. This exhibition, in the artist’s words, “is a love story, a story of calling myself home”
During AUKATI, images of Kezia splashed across my newsfeed. A woman, adorned in kōkōwai, fierce, proud, and empowered. I’ve worn kōkōwai in ceremony a few times over the years, to see it used in such a way in contemporary Māori art practice is inspiring.
We’re proud to be able to share some of the artist's words and images about her practice. Content note, AUKATI deals with mana motuhake with a focus on sexual sovereignty. Thank you Kezia for sharing your words, experience and practice with us.
Nā Sarah Hudson, Aug 2021
Ko Mataatua te waka
Ko Maungapohatu ko Panekiri ngā maunga tapu
Ko Ohinemataroa te awa
Ko Waikaremoana te waiu
Ko Haumapuhia te tipua
Ko Whakamoe te tangata
Ko Te Urewera te hapu
Ko Tuhoe ko Ngati Ruapani ngā iwi
Ko Kezia-Joy Whakamoe a hau
It’s all a bit intense
Mahi Toi is my rongoā, my first language, my love language, the imprint of Mātauranga Māori .. mahi Toi centres me, reminds me who I am breath by breath in this body
a ritual marking a beginning and an end to a multidimensional process a transformative process - birthing, living and dying
past skin shedding - future vision casting - now standing here KA MUA KA MURI
I am a kaitiaki of this process. He ringatoi ahau
I acknowledge all of my teachers .. mentors .. leaders ..
I creatively ritualise healing processes, drawing from our taonga tuku iho and the moment NOW my kaupapa is to transform trauma, quicken consciousness, realise potential
.. healing from intergenerational trauma, sexual and racialized violence .. independently and collectively - the work starts within and is shared through wānanga ..
JOY
as wahine Māori, it is vital for our own healing to be in our own hands this is what mana motuhake looks like
I make by the maramataka and te taiao, I make as guided by dreams, atua and kaitiaki, my medium is trust, grief, joy
WHATUMANAWA
I am a commitment to sexual, spiritual and emotional sovereignty
I am multidisciplinary - I work with anything, in awe at the transformative processes around us embodied by our atua everyday. Papatūānuku is the ultimate artist - I watch and learn from her. Hinenuiitepō, the ultimate transformer. These kuia inspired me to start burying my canvas works in my compost, around ten years ago. I realised I was carrying so much trauma I had forgotten how to grieve, I was sick and needed to call myself home to my body ..I learnt to tangi again .. he pekepoho wāwāhi tahā ahau - i am a challenger of the status quo ..
I came backwards to kōkōwai - to decolonise the ‘art world’ meant to bury canvas and let Papatūānuku make the marks - I was no Hineahuone - I was a colonised Tūhoe kōtiro who traced her whakapapa backwards from the concrete urban woundings to her own ikura - my DNA knew māuri when I saw it felt it smelt it. I work with bone stone, anything grown .. wax wings hair blood nails uku light dark fire water sound earth air wairua + when these elements talk to each other I am there for the korero ..
a facilitator ..
potion maker ..
