Rachel Rakena — Digital video artist
Rachael isa digital and moving image artist
to watch out for
. A contemporary Mäori artist, Rachael
collaborates with singers, musicians, dancers, swimmers. She is of Ngai
Tahu, Ngä
Puhi, Ngati
Pakeha descent.
Whare is a conceptually and technologically stunning sequence
Dr Deidre Brown
Taonga Whanau is an eloquent landscape of people and place, intimacy and social history not to be missed.
The Christchurch Press
International New Zealand artist represents Rachel Rakena.
www.inza.co.nz/RR.shtml
email: jamie@inza.co.nz
Reviews
“Stand inside the room showing Rachael Rakena's filmic multi-media installation, Rerehiko, for Te Puawai o Ngai Tahu at the Christchurch Art Gallery — Te Puna o Waiwhetu, and you almost feel the need for breathing apparatus. … Short of actually being wet, the viewer feels awash with visual and aural sensations from beneath murky lapping waters. … ” Rosa Shiels The Press,Christchurch, New Zealand
Biography
Rachael Rakena is a digital and moving image artist of Ngai Tahu, Ngä Puhi, Ngati Pakeha descent.
Many of her works are collaborative and have included singers, (soprano Deborah Wai Kapohe), musicians (Richard Nunns on Maori musical instruments), and dancers (Louise Bryant and Merenia Gray).
Works by Rachel Rakena
Te Ao Mähina — the Twilight
At Wellington Zoo’s new nocturnal house Te Ao Mähina— the Twilight Rachael's art work greets visitors with projected images of treasured New Zealand fauna including kiwi foraging around, a close up vision of a kiwi egg and feathers, all merged with the sounds of birds and music inspired by Mäori perceptions of the forest.
This work is viewed while getting accustomed to the darkness before moving into the nocturnal environment.
iwi.nz
Image from Rachel's work in the Te Atinga exhibition in Christchurch and Auckland (New Zealand) curated by Toi Mäori.
Mihi Aroha
Mihi Aroha, a tribute to Rachael's mother, was exhibited in Whare, a collaboration by young Mäori artists which debuted in 2002, in the Art and Industry Biennial Trust exhibition Scape.
In Whare the artists created four sets of moving images — with sound— that were projected on to the interior and exterior of each side of the roof and the two side walls of a tent-like structure (whare).
In Mihi Aroha, email messages Rachael received after her mother's death run down the walls of the whare like tears.
Rerehiko — Rachel Rakena
“Having created and participated in numerous moving image projects in which I have repeatedly explored layered imagery of water, swimmers / dancers, tukutuku and floating texts derived from email correspondences, I have arrived at this project, rerehiko. ” Rachael Rakena
rere … flow, fly, be carried by the wind, sail, rush, flee, escape,
rise, leap…
hiko… move at random or irregular, lightning, electric,…
whakapapa… layering, genealogy
rerehiko plays on the word ‘rorohiko’, the Mäori word for computer. ‘Toi rere hiko’ could be used to describe moving image arts or at least art that employs movement with electricity and flashes of light.
“I've done a lot of pieces over the last two years, but this is the one which is most mine — I've developed the concept and directing the whole process. It's quite big for me.” Rachel Rakena
Turanga — a dance/video installation
Wonderfully evocative melding and meshing, overlaying
and juxtaposition of image and dance.
Raewyn Whyte
Turanga is an exciting performance combination of contemporary dance, digital moving image, installation and music.
Turanga is also the name of the creative team; installation/performance artists Louise Potiki Bryant: choreographer and Rachael Rakena: digital moving images. Both artists belong to Kai Tahu, a Mäori tribe of the South Island of New Zealand. They work together to create their own form of interdisciplinary works which explore issues of identity. Music is by Eden Mullholland.
Inspired by cultural protocols of mihi, the performance work Turanga marks out the gallery space as a symbolic whare, and explores the space between standing places, the destructive forces of a changing world on the cultural identity of Kai Tahu, and the resilient nature of the individual.
Turanga have previously performed to critical acclaim at The Lightbox Gallery, Awataha Marae, Artstation Gallery, and at Wellington City Gallery.
They are delighted to be bringing this production for the first time to Christchurch with performances at The Physics Room. etc
What binds and grounds Turanga is their Tangata Whenuatanga within a modern context. As a viewer I found it a very stimulating and thought-provoking way of experiencing Mäori art.Stephen Bradshaw
