NGA KAKAHU

Change and Exchange

14 May - 26 June 2011

Ngā Kakahu: Change and Exchange: A celebration of cross cultural expression in New Zealand that explores the art of Māori weaving from both a Māori and Pākehā perspective. Sculptor Jo Torr and weaver Roka Ngarimu-Cameron have chosen costume as a medium to explore this theme, drawing attention to the way both benefited from the exchange.

The works of both artists play off each other. Torr's suite of hybrid garments, made from recycled blankets, focus on the relationship between Māori cloaks and European blankets.  She has also been inspired by Alfred Burton's photographs of groups of Maori dressed in combinations of Maori and European dress – often European gowns with imported woollen blankets alternating with fine cloaks.  Ngarimu-Cameron's installation of finely woven contemporary cloaks and tartan kilts, created using a Western loom, are a metaphor for the blending for the two cultures themselves.

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