Maureen Lander: Flat-Pack Whakapapa
Maureen lander, Flat-Pack Whakapapa, 2017, installation view. Collection of the dowse art museum. Photo Mark Tantrum.
Just as whakapapa (genealogy) reflects someone’s lineage and biology, the starting line of a kete determines how its patterning and size will develop.
In Flat-Pack Whakapapa, Maureen Lander created three installations for The Dowse that explored connections between whakapapa and raranga (Māori weaving). Flat-Pack Whakapapa considers kinship, family and friendship networks as well as genetic heritage. Approaching these forms of human connection from a mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) perspective, Lander engages with weaving techniques—including whiri (braiding) and whakairo (patterning)—and the concept of aho tuku iho (ancestral lines handed down continuously from generation to generation).
veryday motif like the flat-pack design to symbolise deeply held cultural beliefs such as whakapapa, Lander contributes to a wider, ongoing conversation by contemporary Māori artists who address customary ideas in relevant ways for new generations.
The Dowse Art Museum | 15 Jul – 12 Nov 2017