A Black cot stands illuminated by a single spotlight. Inside are 12 dirty, uncovered pillows representing the "tight 12".
Tight 12 - a reference to the family members who protected the alleged killer of Auckland's Kahui twins - is just one part of Gisborne artist Melanie Tahata's 10-piece
installation Mauri Ora, on show at Tairawhiti Museum in Gisborne.
Other works cover aspects of life ranging from domestic violence to Maori-on-Maori racism to the ultimate leveller - death.
Tahata said the pieces referred to events she had seen in the media and things she had experienced personally.
"As a first-time mother, some stories stood out more in the way they were covered and these works record how they affected me. They are not intended as a moral judgment - I'll leave that to a judge."
The 34-year-old's interest in goth and punk culture meant that, since her days as a student at Auckland's Elam School of Fine Arts, she had established a collection of "found" objects that illustrated the dark side of life.
When she returned to Gisborne two years ago, the removal vehicle was not packed with the usual crockery and furniture but rather surgical instruments, autopsy trays and coffins.
"I already had all the materials I needed . . . it was just a matter of making them work with the ideas I had," said Tahata.
Among other the works on the dark side are: Untitled, where three white stretch'n'grows are laid over an autopsy tray representing infant mortality; You Made Your Bed Now You Lie In It, a rusted autopsy tray hanging from the ceiling referring to the misguided advice given to victims of domestic violence; and the title work, in which the words Mauri Ora are appliqued in blood-red gothic print on a white sheet laid over a single bed - a child's refuge from domestic warfare.
Elsewhere, a trio of paintings, collectively entitled Kaiti Madonna, mark Tahata's relationship with her toddler son. "We all go from birth through life and to death and these works represent how that journey is for some of us," she said.
Mauri Ora runs until April 1.
- NZPA
