Amio Renati
Ngāti whakaue, Tūhourangi, Tapuika, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti kurī
Amio is an interdisciplinary artist with a primary focus on photography. To contextualize their photographic practice, they situate their work in contrast to the history of European photographers and painters whose portraits have been regarded around the world as authentic Māori representation. They do this to dismantle and disrupt the notions of Māori identity that aren’t told by our own people, and uses photography as a tool to navigate the intersections of the Māori and queer identity.
Te Ara i Whiti
As does she, 2023
As does she
Sculpted by the hands of time
I take my form.
From nothing
Life is made possible.
This work is a navigation of self, and is a part of an ongoing photographic narrative titled “He toka, He wai”, like rock, like water. Portrayed are male forms. Each body a reflection of myself, stages of evolution, stages of questioning, stages of anger, stages of softness, and everything existing in between. All the doubts and all the dreams.
Through this ongoing project I am constantly reminded that through whakapapa, I am all things. And with this image, although my body is absent from the frame. This is a self portrait.
You can find “As does she” at Te Ara i whiti from September 29 – October 8, 2023 at Kelvin and Marina Park.
