Melaine Tangaere Baldwin
Ngāti Porou
Melanie Tangaere Baldwin is a multi disciplinary artist, arts educator, curator, director of HOEA! Gallery in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa and has curated Te Ara i Whiti since 2021.
As an artist her work has been research based and largely focused on Te Ao Māori, Mana Wāhine, stereotyping of indigenous peoples and the effects of settler colonialism on notions of power, beauty and worth. She is currently interested in the power and freedom of creating our own stories, rather than re-telling.
Te Ara i Whiti
Te Tai Rā Whiti , 2023
“I made this work while thinking about how beautiful it is to be of this particular land, sea and sky and how rare and wonderful it is to be Māori.
Of how present atua are at the rising of Tama-nui-te-rā over Te Moananui-a-Kiwa.
I walked in the mornings and thought of Hine-tītama and tried to find her.
I imagined her floating carefree between worlds.
I saw her as a pare, flanked by manaia as her kaitiaki, gently guiding us, safely, toward her other self. My family are my models, my actors, my co-creators because they are gods. Because we all are”
Models/actors:
Hine-nui- te Pō – Lilian Turere Waipuke Tangaere Baldwin
Hinetītama – Aīo Turere Waipuke Baldwin Quirk
Mānaia/kaitiaki : Toki Moana Ngahiwi Baldwin Quirk
Soundscape: Reuben Quirk
You can find “Te Tai Rā Whiti” at Te Ara i whiti from September 29 – October 8, 2023 at Kelvin and Marina Park.
