Rerehiko

He momo whakapuakitanga tēnei mō ngā whakaaro o Rachael Rakena i ōna tau tīmatanga i te ao whakaaturanga. E ai ki a ia ko te ‘Toi Rerehiko’ ‘he toi e whakamahi ai i te korikori a te hiko me te aho’ hei huarahi ki te aro atu ki te toi ataata e Māori nei te āhua. I te kura toi i rata ai ia ki tētahi akomanga hou i roto i te toi rorohiko, ā, ka tūhuratia e ia ngā hangarau mātātuhi-kori i te kura, i waho i te kura hoki, he mea e whakawhirinaki ai ki ngā mahi tahinga. Ko tā *Rerehiko*, 2003 he whakatauira i te mahi tahi, i te kōrero tahi e kitea ana i roto i ngā kiriata me ngā ataata a Rakena, i roto hoki i te mahi i oti i a ia i te taha o Ngāi Tahu Whanau Ki Araiteuru, he rōpū i whakatūria ai e rātou ko ētahi atu – he rōpū e manawa nui ai ki te whakarauora i ngā kōrero, i ngā tikanga, i te kawa o Ngāi Tahu. Ko te arongatahi a Rakena i tēnei mahi, i ētahi atu mahi o taua wā hoki, he wai me te tuakiritanga o te Māori hei kaupapa whakahirahira. Kei te whakamahia te wai hei ata whakarite i ngā whanaungatanga nekeneke ki te wā matihiko hei huarahi kē mō te ariā o te whanaungatanga mā te tūranga whenua.

This work is something of a manifesto of Rachael Rakena’s thinking during a formative period of exhibition making. She uses the term ‘Toi Rerehiko’ for ‘art that employs electricity movement and light’ to indicate a way of thinking about video art that is distinctively Māori. At art school she was attracted to the potential of a new course in computer art and explored moving-image technologies in and out of school which relied on collaborative practices. *Rerehiko*, 2003 exemplifies collaborative making and discussion which was implicit in both Rakena’s film and video and in the work she was doing with Kāi Tahu Whānau Ki Araiteuru, a group she helped establish which was committed to the revitalisation to Ngāi Tahu narrative, tikanga (practices) and kawa (customs for the opening of new houses, launching of canoes and other events). Significantly, Rakena focused on the importance of water in Māori identity in this and other works of its time. Water is used as a metaphor for a set of mobile relationships concurrent with the digital age and as an alternative to the concept of connectedness via turanga (land). (Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, 2020)

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