Enduring rivers of light: waters of memory, Aotearoa & Āniwaniwa

Authors

  • Charles Robert Eliot Dawson ASLEC-ANZ

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.60162/swamphen.3.10604

Keywords:

Maori art, Aniwaniwa, Maori and indigenous rights to water and rivers, Brett Graham, Rachel Rakena, rivers, cultural memory, giant dams, cultural loss, salmon, FirstNations canadian peoples, Native America and Maori experiences of Dams, art installations

Abstract

This essay considers the major New Zealand installation artwork Āniwaniwa, by Māori New Zealand artists Brett Graham (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura) and Rachel Rakena (Ngāi Tahu, Ngā Puhi) The paper contextualises the installation around text about dams that inundate homeplaces, and refers briefly to the indigenous politics of water and memory in contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand.

That Āniwaniwa received its most international exposure in a thirteenth-century salt warehouse at the 2007 Venice Biennale, where the viewer was invited to see the work whilst supine on the floors. It installation is testament to The artists’ innovation and calibre, as well as the evocative appeal of the work.

Author Biography

  • Charles Robert Eliot Dawson, ASLEC-ANZ
    Charles is Vice President (New Zealand) Association for the Study of Literature, Environment & Culture with a long-standing interest in literature, cultural geography, environmental history, indigenous rights and cross-cultural communication. Previously a facilitator at New Zealand's Waitangi Tribunal, where he was privileged to work on Maori claims under the Treaty of Waitangi 1840 regarding foreshore issues, government policy regarding intellectual and cultural property, Maori language and arts, and te reo Maori), Charles remains committed to working at the interface of culture, environment and the arts. 
Bogong moth in flight

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Published

2013-11-05

Issue

Vol. 3 (2013): Regarding the Earth: Ecological Vision in Word & Image

Section

Visual Culture

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