All cultures recall creation narratives that speak to universal questions about human existence and our place in the order of all things. The Māori creation story is the oldest philosophy of Aotearoa New Zealand and articulates the origin stories that Māori still recall and observe. This begins in the state of Te Kore, described as the great nothingness, the empty faceless void. In Te Kore, time is suspended in darkness – in a state of unrealised potential. These artworks consider monumental ideas about nothingness and being in powerful and provocative ways. The works are engaged in an open-ended conversation about the celestial realm, cosmology and creation.
Ko tā ngā ahurea katoa he maumahara i ngā kōrerohanga mō ngā pātai rētō mō te tauoranga o te tangata, ā, mō tō tatou tūrangawaewae i tēnei ao. Ko te hangangana o te ao e ai ki te Māori te aroro tawhito rawa o Aotearoa ka mutu kei te kōrero tonu, kei te aro tonu a Ngāi Māori ki aua kōrero orokohanga. Tīmata ai aua kōrero ki Te Kore – te hemanga nui, te kanohi tē kitea. Kāore kau e paku kitea a runga, a raro. Kei te tārewa te wā i roto i te pō – he noho torohū, he pitomata kāore anō kia ea. Kei roto i tēnei kohinga toi he ariā nunui mō te kore, mō te tauoranga, e kawea ana e ngā mahi aweawe, e ngā mahi whakapātaritari. Kei te tūtohu ngā mahi toi i te matapakinga mutunga kore hei huritao i ngā kōrerohanga nui mō te whānau mārama, mō te tātai arorangi, mō te hanganga o te ao.
