Darcell Apelu | Carry Me with You

For Mount Maunganui-based artist Darcell Apelu (Niue, Pākehā, Te Āti Awa, born 1990), embodied knowledge, which she describes as ‘the transmission of knowledge that is inherited and held innately in the body’, is a foundation of her practice.

In Carry Me with You, 2023, three concentric structures ascend skyward to reinterpret the narrative of the deity Tāne-mahuta and his ascent to the heavens to obtain human life and knowledge. In one account, he climbed to the highest of the 12 realms of heaven, te toi o ngā rangi, to retrieve three kete or baskets: te kete tuatea (basket of light), te kete tuauri (basket of darkness) and te kete aronui (basket of pursuit). Apelu’s sculptural, abstract kete offer physical frameworks that encourage visitors to embark on their own journey – to walk in and around and to look up, towards the pathway of Tāne.