Artist Statement

Theme: Pacific Rim. Venue: Container Culture, South Hall

Rerehiko presents complex references to community debated through email and contemporary kapa hake (traditional Maori dance). The work expresses the identities of KTW, an urban tribal group from Dunedin (Te Whanau o Kai Tahu ki Araiteuru), active in a fluid cyberspace where relationships are virtual rather than geophysical and where contemporary technologies can nurture communities imbued with cosmological and genealogical narratives. The medium of sea/water is a metaphor both for an amniotic space, anticipating birth, and for contemporary and historic oceanic migrations and journeys.

Curator: Deborah Lawler-Dormer

• Rachael Rakena (NZ – Aotearoa)

Support from Te Waka Toi and Screen Innovation Production Funding, Creative New Zealand, the Arts Council of New Zealand and New Zealand Film Commission