Reflections on Encountering Aotearoa

Abstract

This Curatorium piece reflects on a two-week sea voyage along the coast of Aotearoa New Zealand undertaken by the authors, artists Cora-Allan Twiss (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Tumutumu, Niue—Liku, Alofi) and Emily Parr (Ngāi Te Rangi, Moana, Pākehā). From the journey, Cora-Allan produced a significant body of work, which exhibited as Encountering Aotearoa at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in 2023 and is forthcoming at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū in 2024. Using hiapo (Niuean barkcloth), whenua (earth) pigment and other natural resources, the works document whenua (land) from the perspective of the moana (sea), engaging with histories of navigation and encounter, and in particular, the legacy of Captain Cook’s eighteenth-century voyages of “discovery”. Also included in the exhibition are moving-image pieces filmed by Emily, who accompanied Cora-Allan and her father, Kelly, on board to record the journey and Cora-Allan and Kelly’s daily reflections. This piece includes excerpts from these reflections, stitched together with Emily’s own observations from the voyage. It draws together threads that situate the project and Cora-Allan’s research on the HMS Endeavour, captained by Cook, such as the role of the Tahitian navigator Tupaia, the documentation produced by artists and botanists on board and the extractive approach to whenua. Retracing sites of early encounter, Cora-Allan reorients the imperial imaginary to a decolonial one, creating works that record memory, history and the whakapapa (genealogical ties) and mauri (vital essence) of Aotearoa.