May 08, 2013
Photos explore idea of ahi kaa
The home fires have inspired a new exhibition at the McNamara Gallery in Whanganui.
Artist Natalie Robertson of Ngāti Porou and Clan Donnachaidh says the show, called for The Headlands Await Your Coming, grew out of her interest in indigenous knowledge and the practices that are maintained at the hau kainga around food gathering.
It also looks at the notion of ahi kaa or home fires that is the cornerstone principle of land rights.
"It's the way that we maintain our land but it's also the way we keep our places warm. And with urban drift and migration depopulating small communities, there are fewer people at home maintaining those practices. Others return seasonally or when occasion calls to keep the marae warm, and I'm interested in the intergenerational youth that keeps our home fires burning," she says.
Robertson says she went back to photography for The Headlands Await Your Coming because many of the smaller regional galleries and museums don’t have the equipment to show her moving image work.
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