Seven Days

Ko tā *7 Days of Creation*, 2012 he kōmitimiti i ngā āhuatanga o te pono Karaitiana o te ringa toi, ki ngā āhua me ngā ariā Māori. E ai ki tētahi hoa toi a Darcy Nicholas e huritao ana i te mahi toi a Riddell ‘kei te ara mai i te iho o te whenua me te moana. Ko āna toi he waiata mō te whenua, ānō nei ko Papatūānuku tērā e whakakakapa ana i tōna manawa hei karanga atu ki āna tamariki.’

At the beginning of his career, Baye Ridell’s work was strongly informed by Japanese and English pottery, but after returning home to Tokomaru Bay in 1979, he began to look more to his Māori heritage for inspiration and meaning. Of this time, Riddell recalls:

Exploring my taha Māori [Māori side] was like my feet were connected again . . . my work began to incorporate Māori mythology and symbolism to a greater extent.

*7 Days of Creation*, 2012 fuses elements from the artist’s Christian faith with Māori forms and ideas. Fellow artist Darcy Nicholas provides a poetic reflection of Riddell’s art, describing how it ‘emerges from the soul of the land and the sea. His work sings of the land, like the earth mother gently beating out her heart rhythms in order to gather in her children.’

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