Ko rawaka/Everything we need draws together multiple streams of life; wai contained within bodies and oceans, resourceful plants and animals, whakapapa and storytelling held through generations and recordings lifted from the bustle and conversation of everyday life. Each artist considers how to attune ourselves to these things through combined processes of making with found objects, painting, photography, moving image, writing and sound; asking what is needed to remain aware of and sustain these essential connections.
Past Exhibition
Hātarei 10 Ākuhata -
Hātarei 14 Hepetema
Saturday 10 August -
Saturday 14 September
2024
Ana Hislop, Pūngao: Hau (detail), Cyanotype on paper, acrylic, gold thread, 2024
Ana Hislop’s video installation Te taha wairua has five layers of fabric each representing a generation of Hislop’s whakapapa to Motoitoi, a Kāi Tahu woman who lived near Pūrākaunui with her whaler husband and three daughters. Other specific relations are referenced throughout with embroidered motifs and found kererū and kōtuku feathers. Hislop’s great uncle James Hislop was the architect who designed the bank building Blue Oyster occupies, and he is represented alongside her father and grandfather in the triptych of cyanotypes titled Pūngao: Whenua, Hau, Wai. Cyanotypes themselves were historically used as a technique to make easily copied blueprints of architectural plans.
Emily Clemett’s artworks Everything you need and Decision making wallpaper gather collections of multiple, seemingly unrelated objects: Oxo cubes, Beehive matches, sticks, candles, books and more, are arranged over ornate silver plates. This assemblage of things invites you to question what you might want or need to take. Stylised kiekie plants hang nearby, a reference to a valuable plant resource for making tukutuku, woven mats, clothing and hunting traps, and its delicious fruit.
Emma Hislop’s Ko rawaka records the audio of daily life in Hislop’s home of Taranaki. Snippets from Hislop’s parents, her son and pet dog, her partner playing the piano, the family planting native trees together, Hislop speaking reo to pīwakawaka in her garden, trips in the car, YouTube and Love Island. During this time, Hislop asked herself about the things people need; whether safety, with the unfolding genocide occuring in Palestine in her mind, or the need to nourish and feed wairua.
All art is a kind of storytelling, it occurred to Emma Hislop in the lead up to this exhibition; an act that can communally foster and keep connections against loss between people, and between people and places. She notes in an essay: ‘I find myself thinking about the way things are framed, the knowledge you don’t possess, how what you don’t know can be both a freedom and a sadness.’1
Blue Oyster would like to acknowledge and mihi Rauhina Scott-Fyfe for her insight and support for Emily, Ana and Emma with Ko rawaka/Everything we need.
1 Emma Hislop, ‘Motoitoi’s cave’, The Spinoff, August 13, 2023. thespinoff.co.nz
Emily Clemett, Everything you need, Found objects, silver salvers, wai, sticks, wool, glass, books & Decision making wallpaper, Wallpaper, acrylic, glitter, 2024.
Emma Hislop, Ko rawaka, Audio, 16:00 minutes, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Emily Clemett, Everything you need (detail), Found objects, silver salvers, wai, sticks, wool, glass, books, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Emily Clemett, Everything you need (detail), Found objects, silver salvers, wai, sticks, wool, glass, books, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Emily Clemett, Everything you need (detail), Found objects, silver salvers, wai, sticks, wool, glass, books, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Emily Clemett, Everything you need (detail), Found objects, silver salvers, wai, sticks, wool, glass, books, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Emily Clemett, Decision making wallpaper (detail), Wallpaper, acrylic, glitter, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Installation view, 2024
Photo: Beth Garey
Emily Clemett, Finest delicacy kiekie, MDF, acrylic, glitter, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Pūngao: Whenua, Hau, Wai, cyanotype on paper, acrylic, thread, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Pūngao: Whenua, cyanotype on paper, acrylic, thread, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Pūngao: Whenua (detail), cyanotype on paper, acrylic, thread, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Pūngao: Hau, cyanotype on paper, acrylic, thread, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Pūngao: Wai, cyanotype on paper, acrylic, thread, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Pūngao: Wai (detail), cyanotype on paper, acrylic, thread, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua, Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (still), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (still), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (still), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Installation view, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Emma Hislop, Ko rawaka, Audio, 16:00 minutes, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Emily Clemett, Everything you need, Found objects, silver salvers, wai, sticks, wool, glass, books & Decision making wallpaper, Wallpaper, acrylic, glitter, 2024.
Emma Hislop, Ko rawaka, Audio, 16:00 minutes, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Emily Clemett, Everything you need (detail), Found objects, silver salvers, wai, sticks, wool, glass, books, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Emily Clemett, Everything you need (detail), Found objects, silver salvers, wai, sticks, wool, glass, books, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Emily Clemett, Everything you need (detail), Found objects, silver salvers, wai, sticks, wool, glass, books, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Emily Clemett, Everything you need (detail), Found objects, silver salvers, wai, sticks, wool, glass, books, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Emily Clemett, Decision making wallpaper (detail), Wallpaper, acrylic, glitter, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Installation view, 2024
Photo: Beth Garey
Emily Clemett, Finest delicacy kiekie, MDF, acrylic, glitter, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Pūngao: Whenua, Hau, Wai, cyanotype on paper, acrylic, thread, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Pūngao: Whenua, cyanotype on paper, acrylic, thread, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Pūngao: Whenua (detail), cyanotype on paper, acrylic, thread, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Pūngao: Hau, cyanotype on paper, acrylic, thread, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Pūngao: Wai, cyanotype on paper, acrylic, thread, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Pūngao: Wai (detail), cyanotype on paper, acrylic, thread, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua, Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (still), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (still), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (still), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Ana Hislop, Te taha wairua (detail), Single-channel digital video with sound, 16:57 minutes, voile, thread, kererū and kōtuku feathers, agee jars, whenua, wai, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Installation view, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Emma Hislop, Ko rawaka, Audio, 16:00 minutes, 2024.
Photo: Beth Garey
Emily Clemett
Emily Clemett (Kāi Tahu - Kāti Huirapa, Kāi Te Ruahikihiki) lives in Te Whanganui-a-Tara and makes art through installation, painting, sculpture and music. She studied Māori and Indigenous Art at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.
Ana Hislop
Ana Hislop (Kāi Tahu - Kāti Huirapa, Kāi Te Ruahikihiki) lives in Mohua and studied Design at Massey University and Māori and Indigenous Art at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.
Emma Hislop
Emma Hislop (Kāi Tahu - Kāti Huirapa, Kāi Te Ruahikihiki) lives in Taranaki with her partner Murray Hewitt and son Lenni. Her first book, Ruin, was published with Te Herenga Waka University Press and won the Hubert Church best first book of fiction award at the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Her fiction and non-fiction writing can be found in Headland, The Listener, Metro, Newsroom, The Spinoff and The Pantograph Punch. She has an MA from the International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington, and was the recipient of a 2024 Arts Foundation Springboard Award. In 2023 she was awarded the Michael King International Residency at Varuna House, Australia. Emma is part of Te Hā Taranaki, a collective for Māori writers, established in 2019. She is currently working on a novel.