Muka Face Mask

I te nuinga o te wā, ko tā Matthew McIntyre-Wilson toi he whakamahi i ngā rawa me ngā hoahoa hou hei hanga i ngā taonga Māori o mua, engari kua hurirapahia mō te *Muka Face Mask*, 2020. He taonga nō nāianei tonu te matahuna rongoā, heoi kua hangaia i roto i te reo tawhito o te rākeitanga Māori. He urupare tēnei ki te mate urutā a Covid-19 e pāngia ai ki te ao whānui e hiahiatia mārikatia ai te ārai whaiaro, ko tā te ringa toi he whakamahi i tōna mātauranga raranga me tōna ringa rehe hangarau ki te hanga mai i te matahuna i te muka. Mā reira e whakauruhia ai ā-tohu nei ngā āhuatanga whakahaumaru o te kaitaka me te pāke, ki te matahuna. Kua āta hangaia mai te *Muka Face Mask* i ngā rawa tūroa, ā, koia te tauaro o te tuemi e tohutorongia ai; ara mai ai ngā pātai mō te pāheko ki ngā mea māori noa me te whanaungatanga o aua mea ki ngā āhuatanga o mua, o nāianei, o muri.

In his practice Matthew McIntyre-Wilson frequently reenvisages customary Māori taonga (treasures) in contemporary materials and designs, but with *Muka Face Mask*, 2020 he does the reverse. Now imbued with highly contemporary significance, the surgical facemask here is reframed within the visual language of customary Māori adornment. Responding to the recent global pandemic events of Covid-19, in which personal protection is now essential, the artist applies his weaving knowledge and technical expertise making facemasks out of muka fibre. In doing so, he symbolically invests the mask with the protective qualities traditionally associated with kaitaka and pāke (cloaks). Carefully crafted from natural materials and made for longevity, *Muka Face Mask* is the opposite of the item it references, raising questions about how we perceive and interact with objects in daily life and their relationship to past, present and future.

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