AN ERA OF DEEP DARKNESS

Within moments of sitting in the small, dark Tairawhiti Museum gallery, the viewer has the sensation of flying through the cosmos. The projected imagery of moving stars in Poutu Puketapu’s current installation fills the far wall while suspended in space is a glass carving, a constellation of small, luminous, resin carvings and two kete with their own star clusters. Te Po Uriuri, is an immersive experience that retells the purakau/legend of Uru, the eldest child of Ranginui and Papatuanuku, writes the artist. “This installation embodies the safe haven, Te Kahutuanui-a-Rangi, the cloak of Uri’s father, where he fled, seeking refuge as he withdrew from his whanau. Uru sits here as a contemporary koruru in an era of deep darkness — Te Po Uriuri.”