Aukaha: Huikaau - Where Currents Meet

Established in 1884, the Dunedin Public Art Gallery (DPAG) housed the first public art collection in Aotearoa. Artworks from this original collection have been exhibited many times over the past 140 years. Today, a new exhibition showcases these pieces alongside more contemporary works that also aim to express the connection Kāi Tahu has to this whenua, extending from Te Tai o Araiteuru to the inland regions.

Huikaau – Where Currents Meet, represents many perspectives, histories, stories, places and people and takes manuhiri through the changing artistic attitudes of the gallery since its founding.

The exhibition includes several iconic pieces from the DPAG permanent collection such as Rita Angus’ watercolour of Lake Wanaka, Pembroke (1939), Joanna Margaret Paul’s Panoply (1984) and visiting artist Yang Yongliang’s Artificial Wonderland II, Travelers among Mountains and Streams (2014). It also introduces the Paemanu Art Collection, a loan collection of contemporary works by Kāi Tahu artists that act as nohoaka – a unique pathway through which to explore the gallery collection.

The name Huikaau references a particular place at the mouth of Otago Harbour where the ocean currents join the harbour. A water theme runs throughout the exhibition, as a connector, a carrier of stories and a spiritual link.

Walking into the heart of the large gallery space, manuhiri are greeted with a view of Tūtakitaka (2021) created collaboratively by Kāi Tahu artists Madison Kelly and Mya Morrison-Middleton. This stunning creation provides you with a moment, a nohoaka, to connect and ground yourself, before embarking on a journey through past, present and future as you take in the entire exhibition.

Behind Tūtakitaka, Ross Hemera’s (Waitaha, Ngāti Mamoe, Ngāi Tahu) newly-commissioned Horotea ngā tapuae i te awa adorns the wall. As Poutokomanawa of Paemanu: Ngāi Tahu Contemporary Visual Arts, Hemera’s work occupies an important position in the exhibition. His work is offered as a mihi to his tīpuna, and displays a distinct feature of Kāi Tahu cultural practice.

Ana whakairo, art found on the walls of rock shelters throughout our takiwā, have been a lifelong inspiration to him. He was raised on the river beds of the Waitaki Awa. Across the multiple panels of Horotea ngā tapuae i te awa, the viewer is taken on a journey, with Hemera’s drawings offering accounts of treasured Kāi Tahu stories (kōrero tuku iho), layered with personal whakapapa and experiences.

HUIKAAU – where currents meet 2023, installation views, Dunedin Public Art Gallery Above: Centre back wall: Ross Hemera [Waitaha, Ngāti Māmoe, Ngāi Tahu] Horotea ngā tapuae i te awa 2023 – pencil on board. Collection of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, commissioned by the Gallery 2023. In centre of room: Madison Kelly [Kāi Kahu, Kāti Māmoe], Mya Morrison-Middleton [Ngāi Tahu, Ngāi Tūāhuriri] Tūtakitaka 2021 – tohorā rara (found near Waiputai), milled harakeke fibre, whītau (Makaweroa, Ruapani, no.88), glass beads, tōtara, feathers, seaglass, two channel audio track. Paemanu Art Collection on loan to Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Courtesy of the artist and Paemanu Charitable Trust.

FIONA PARDINGTON [Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāti Kahungunu] Still Life with Albatross feathers, Pounamu and Coral Hearts (Ripiro Beach) 2014 – pigment inks on Hahnemuhle photo rag 308gsm paper. Collection of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Purchased 2021 with funds from the Dunedin Public Art Gallery Society. Photographs: supplied

Nohoaka are important to us as Kāi Tahu, as sites of occupation along navigational routes through Te Waipounamu. In Huikaau they provide sites of pause and reflection, creating space for new voices and contributors.

Moewai Marsh (Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa, Puketeraki, Kāti Huirapa) is one of those new voices. Her Tuturu series 1-3 uses pigments sourced from the earth at Arai Te Uru, Puketeraki, and Ōtākou marae, on handmade paper crafted from natural materials. Marsh’s work, like Hemera’s, carries kōrero tuku iho of whakapapa and aroha, and displays traditional Māori art techniques, expertly embodying the connection mana whenua have to te taiao.

While viewing Simon Kaan’s Whakaruku (2021), a photograph of land and sea, split across multiple canvases, my sister pointed to a blurry mauka in the backdrop and said, “I know my mauka when I see it”. Kaan has harnessed the power of spiritual links that we as Kāi Tahu have with moana and whenua, and offered a nohoaka to consider these connections.

Huikaau pushes the viewer to change their perspective throughout the space. The selection of works was purposefully chosen to display the histories, stories and people of our region throughout time. On the surface it might be hard for one to understand the connection of each piece to another, but the powerful underlying feeling my sister and I had while visiting the exhibition was the connection the pieces have to our whenua, and to us as mana whenua.

The exhibition also “acts as a space of power and shows the potential of art to carry our stories, to disrupt conventions of the modern day, and to innovate and transform our perspectives.”

The exhibition was developed through conversation with a wide range of contributors. Dunedin Public Art Gallery would like to acknowledge Te Rūnaka o Ōtākou and Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki, and in particular Claire Kaahu White, Robert Sullivan and Paulette Tamati-Elliffe for their support. Thanks also to Paemanu: Ngāi Tahu Contemporary Visual Arts, who placed their collection into DPAG’s care. (https://dunedin.art.museum/exhibitions/present/huikaau/)

Huikaau – Where Currents Meet, runs
at Dunedin Public Art Gallery until
October 31, 2025.