Puea – The Awakening

Frances Pomare

October 15th – November 6th 2016

The works in Puea signify the change and shift throughout my journey as a Maori Artist and Designer, and the crossover in my works between the two – Art and Design. It’s a reflection of traditional cultural ideas sub consciously filtered into western interpretation by the use of modern material and technique.

Hakuturi “The Forest Guardian” was inspired by the late Ralph Hotere and his notable installation work – Black Phoenix. Ralph Hotere symbolised a new shift in Maori Art that challenged many emerging Maori artists to really think outside the realm of “traditional Maori Art” His style and technique was unique in the sense that he was using various mediums in ways that no other Maori Artist was working in, nor dared to during this time. He had unintentionally laid a path for other emerging Maori artists to explore the unconventional as opposed to the more conventional ideas. The Black Phoenix reiterates the proverb “Ka hinga atu he tete-kura haramai he tete-kura” – “As one fern frond (person) dies – one is born to take its place.

Artist Profile – Frances Pomare (Ngapuhi/Te Rarawa) is a self taught multi media Maori artist born in the Te Rarawa region of Panguru in the Hokianga, currently based in Melbourne where she has been working as a Freelance Artist/Designer for the last 5 years. Having been brought up fully immersed in her culture and tikanga Maori as a child, it was at this stage of her life she began to develop ideologies that encompassed both her love of art and being Maori. Her works embody the concept of “he papakainga” – “where one’s roots are forever embedded in our ancestral land throughout life and death.” Whatungarongaro te tangata toitu te whenua.

During the exhibition we will also be showing documentaries on Ralph Hotere’s life and work by Mereta Mita and Sam Pilsbury. The films will show continuously on screen in our small gallery.