Kahumaku - a cloak of tears

E ai ki te mahinga tahi a Rona Ngahuia Osborne rāua ko Dan Mace, ‘ko tātou te huinga o ngā tāngata katoa kua wehe i mua i a tātou me ngā tāngata katoa e heke tonu mai ai – ō tātou tīpuna – nā te mea kei roto rātou i tō tātou whakapapa’. Kei roto tonu i ā rāua toi te tuatinitanga o tēnei āhuatanga, he aro ki te anga tātai arorangi, ki ō raua tukunga iho mai i Kōtirana, i Airana hoki, i ētahi wā kua whakauruhia ngā tuemi e pā ana ki te whakawhitinga ahurea me te hokohoko. Kei roto i a *Kahumaku: A Cloak of Tears*, 2017, ko te ‘kākahu roimata’ – te hīrere – he mea tū tahi, ko tāna tangi me tā te manu ngā reo anake e rangona ai. Kei te rangona te kārangaranga ngāwari o ngā manu me ngā kararehe me te tangi a te hīrere ānō nei he āhuatanga whakapoapoa. Kei tōna pūtake he wāhi pai ki te tū. Kei roto i tēnei wāhi e hono ai te tangata ki te taiao, e mōhiotia ai ko te hauora o te taiao me te ahurea he āhuatanga tē tae te mimiti. Kei tō rāua papakāinga i te raki o Tāmaki Makau Rau taua tāheke, ā, ki te tokorua nei he momo tohu motuhake, he wairua whakahirahira ki tō rāua whānau.

Working collaboratively, Rona Ngahuia Osborne and Dan Mace assert ‘we are the sum total of everyone who has gone before us and after – our tīpuna (ancestors) as they are part of our whakapapa, our genealogical history’. Their practice embodies the complexity of this, drawing on a Māori cosmological framework, as well as their Scottish and Irish heritage, sometimes including items of early cultural exchange and trade. In *Kahumaku: A Cloak of Tears*, 2017, the ‘cloak of tears’ – the waterfall – stands alone, its voice and a bird the only ones heard. The simple echo of birds and wildlife interlace the hum of the waterfall in a meditative and seductive manner. At its base is a place one might stand. In this space of connection to taiao (the natural world) there is the awareness that environmental and cultural wellbeing are irreducible. The waterfall is located on their rural homeland north of Auckland and for the couple it is a type of totem, a place of spiritual significance for their family.

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