Te Ara i Whiti – Light Trail: Meet three of the artists to feature in festival’s dream event

Anahera-Jade is among the artists whose works are to feature in Te Ara i Whiti (the light trail) at this year's Tairāwhiti Arts Festival.

The Tairāwhiti Arts Festival runs from September 26 to October 5 and once again features Te Ara i Whiti (light trail) – a free interactive visual arts experience comprising illuminated installations and sculptural works created by a group of 10 Aotearoa artists. The kaupapa for Te Ara i Whiti is “o mātou tūmanako – our dreams”. It has been curated by Melanie Tangaere in collaboration with lighting designer Angus Muir and will be installed at Kelvin and Marina parks. In the lead-up to the festival, the Gisborne Herald is profiling the exhibiting artists.

Anahera-Jade is a moana maker/ringatoi Māori. Her work has evolved to intersect rave culture, resistance and te ao Māori – an enchanting and punk-led style with industrial references to ancestral technology and Māori futurisms.

She leans into world-building for Te Ara i Whiti 2025, offering a hypnotic sound and force fuelled installation work.

Her Te Ara i Whiti work is titled WAHARAVEXX.

Mēnā, he ātea te papa kanikani ko wai ngā atua hei rangatira ki roto i te waharave nei? I te kore, ka kanapunapu te hinātore mai i te kēkē o Papatūānuku. Whakapaoro te oro nguru mai i te puku o Ruaumoko hei rongoā mō te whenua. Mai i te korokoro o te waha nei, he karanga hiko.

Anahera-Jade asks: “If the dancefloor is a place for our worries to be left, who rules in this domain? In the void, the phosphorous glows from the armpit of Papatūānuku. Bass echoes from the belly of Rūaumoko, healing the land. From the throat of this mouth, the karanga [ceremonial call] is electric.”

Te Ara i Whiti artist Erena Koopu.

Erena Koopu is a multidisciplinary artist and educator of Te Whānau-a-Apanui and Ngāti Awa descent, who is committed to sustaining Māori culture through the arts.

Her practice is rooted in whakapapa and te reo Māori, with a passion for helping others uncover their own creative expression.

Koopu’s art speaks boldly from her experience – a life where appearance, language and cultural inheritance find balance through visual language, performance and connection to whenua (land).

Her Te Ara i Whiti work is titled Te Aho Tāngaengae-Te Tini o Rua.

There are two parts to this work. The first is inspired by “te aho” – the umbilical cord – a symbol of whakapapa and hononga (connection) between a mother and child. In this narrative, this is Papatuānuku and Rūaumoko. The second is based on Te Tini o Rua – beings who gently pull Rūaumoko back into the kōpū (belly) of his mother after exploring the outer world. They represent the unseen energies that call us home, back to our roots, our stories and our place in the world. Te Aho Tāngaengae invites viewers to consider their own connections to ancestry, land and the threads that shape identity.

Te Ara i Whiti artist Heidi Brickell.

Heidi Brickell (Te Hika o Pāpāuma, Ngāti Kahungunu, Rongomaiwahine, Ngāi Tara, Rangitāne, Ngāti Apakura, Airihi, Kotirana, Ingarihi, Tiamana) is based in Ōtaki and has a background in kura kaupapa Māori education and te reo Māori revitalisation.

Her practice embraces experimental materials, processes and forms as a means to dovetail with mātauranga tuku iho (traditional knowledge) as a fluidly evolving continuum.

Brickell’s recent solo exhibitions include Wā We Can’t Afford, A Koru is a Trajectory and PĀKANGA FOR THE LOSTGIRL and her work has featured in major surveys of national contemporary art in various public galleries. Collective works are held in Auckland, Christchurch and private collections.

Her Te Ara i Whiti work is titled Hoe Tahi tonu, Hā tahi tonu.

Hoe tahi tonu, hā tahi tonu is an akiaki (encouragement). A continuous line joins two tāngata (people) in a hongi, their waewae (legs) morph into a waka in which they are seated. It emphasises connection and the intertwined fate of all people. Hoe tahi tonu means keep rowing together. Hā tahi tonu means keep breathing together. The structure of that phrase is causal. It encourages people to work together. Through the negative space between the figures, a mangō-pare-like arrow emerges. It resonates as a shared heartbeat.