Image credit: Suzanne Tamaki
13 July — 7 August
AV Gallery
Cuisenaire is an exhibition by artists Kahukuranui and Suzanne Tamaki. Cuisenaire rods are mathematics learning aids that became a tool for Māori language learning within the revolutionary Ataarangi movement. Kahukuranui’s artwork Cuisenaire presents the history of colonisation by word and media, and the decolonisation by kōhanga and whakaata. Tamaki’s artwork is centred on Manu, the fantastic plastic Māori, commenting on the colonisation and decolonisation of the Reo. Both works are presented as part of CineMarae, an annual exhibition presented by Wairoa Māori Film Festival at the Pah Homestead.
Biographies
Leo Koziol (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rakaipaaka) is CIRCUIT's Matariki Curator, and is commissioning a new video work to be screened in Wellington's Masons Screen over the Matariki period in July 2022.
Leo is founder and director of the Wairoa Māori Film Festival. It is the longest-running indigenous film festival of New Zealand and takes place annually during Matariki in a traditional marae. Leo worked as cultural advisor in the Ministry of Maori Development and curates short films for the New Zealand International Film Festival (Ngā Whanaunga Maori Pasifika programme). He also curates for various film festivals in Canada, Italy, Polynesia, the United States and Australia.
Since 2020, he has been the indigenous editor of Letterboxd. With over 3 million members. Letterboxd is the leading social network for movie fans. Kahukuranui is Leo Koziol's moniker for his art projects.
Suzanne Tamaki (Ngāti Maniapoto, Tūhoe) is an artist and social provocateur. Working across fashion, photography and moving image, she creates visual narratives that respond to cultural-politics in Aotearoa. Her works often investigate the nature of indigenous feminisms in the South Pacific, challenging the colonial gaze. Her works also critique Western ideas of nationhood within a bi-cultural nation.
Taonga Talkback is a series of recent video works which offer local perspectives on issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement. Originally made for social media, most of the works in Taonga Talkback are less than 2 minutes long, shot on a phone, and wildly irreverent exercises designed to affirm political agency and cultural sovereignty.
Suzanne is a member of the collectives Pacific Sisters and SaVAge K’lub. Her work is held in museum collections in Aotearoa and worldwide at institutions including Te Papa Tongarewa National Museum of New Zealand (with Pacific Sisters); Casula Museum, Sydney, Australia; The British Museum, UK; University of Cambridge Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, UK; Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, Aotearoa.
Recent exhibitions include Kiingi Tuheitia Portrait Award (New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Wellington, 2021); A Bloody Encounter (Pātaka Museum, Porirua, 2019); and Pacific Sisters Fashion Activists (Te Papa Tongarewa, 2019).