Week 4: Leilani Kake and Te Tuhi Gallery

Leilani Kake came in and talked to us today about her work as a video installation artist. She said that she doesn't make a lot of money from this line of work, but I'm guessing by the inspirations behind the works that she does it purely out of enjoyment. The first thing I noticed was her strong family and cultural grounding and how every piece she had worked on was inspired by her origins (Maori/Cook Island/White American) and her family,
Her moving image piece that touched me the most was Tino Rangatira tanga, which was shown to us after her lecture. The piece consisted of three stages focused on her father, Richard Kake: firstly, there was the tattooing scene, where he was receiving his tamoko. The very first thing I noticed was the combination of green and red ink. I've seen it in small Maori designs before, but never on the face, so it was new to me. Although I was aware of the traditional protocol when having a tomoko done, I admit I was taken aback to see him emotional once he had gotten up off the table and had his blessed, but I came to the realization that it was probably due to him feeling like he had made a great achievement, he knew he had earned the official marking of his iwi (tribe) and ancestors. The second stage was of Mr Kake in hospital, after suffering a stroke. He had family surrounding him, serenading him and taking care of him during his final days. Thirdly, we see his tangi procession and the camera pans through the marae at loved ones as they sing waiata in celebration of his life. It was obviously a very emotional piece, Leilani mentioned that during the family kapahaka group performance for her father, the air around her was buzzing and electrifying. She wanted the actual installation exhibition viewing to be restricted to one person at a time so they could capture the raw emotions of love, life and the loss of life. My reaction to the piece came down to a mixture of emotions, I was proud to see that there was a strong sense of culture within her family and how having the right connection through a great person brought people together. You really get to see how great the Maori culture is. I also like how Leilani wasn't afraid to be different with her video installation by taking her camera into the marae - which is usually not allowed. But I'm pleased to see that she went ahead with it anyway so she could document this part of hers and her father's life. It also made me sad, to have to see him in pain and also because I come from a large, but dysfunctional Maori family on my mother's side. It was a painful reminder that the chances of me enjoying the full experience of my culture and sharing it with those family members would be pretty slim.
After the lecture, we all made our way to Te Tuhi Gallery to see the exhibit Rapid Change, which focuses on the economical and environmental issues facing the world today, resulting in many homes being foreclosed on and abandoned. The large scale photograph and video piece that gave us an insight into the architectural installation, “Ice House Detroit” was fascinating, it was shown on the news a few weeks back so I was definitely looking forward to seeing this and learning more about it. It turns out this work was created in the middle of winter, the two artists who worked on it: an architect, Matthew Radune and photographer Greg Holm spent 24 hours a day, for 30 days straight freezing a house by blasting it with water to build up on the layers of ice, they did this after seeing a house in a similar state after a pipe had burst. Also, while researching as a student, Matthew Radune had played with the concept of architecture that had been affected by the forces of nature. To me, the overall effect had a sombre energy, but after hearing the story behind the installation, it kind of reminded me how with cryopreservation, when a cell is close to death, it is preserved in low sub zero temperatures so when it's recovered, the chances of it dying are reduced. This house had been foreclosed on and was due for demolition. I like how the artists were able to rescue this house, visually enhance it with all of their hard work and then were able to give back to the community by deconstructing the house after the installation had run it's course so the left over materials could be used for other projects around the city.

Owen Eric Wood is a video installation/performance artist, whose work, “Quality Time With the Family” was inspired by his family, but with this piece, he had a different concept in mind. Instead of showing a tight knit bond with his relatives like Leilani Kake had shown with her father and extended family, he recreated the experience of having dinner with his family (for the performance part of the work) Instead of having his family there with him, he sat at a table on his own with TV monitors in their place, but he had a video playing back on every monitor of  each individual relative eating dinner and talking. The whole idea was to emphasize on that feeling of exclusion that some family members often experience when they are ignored or left out of conversations during dinner discussions, or anytime spent with them in general. It was also a response to what the artist said was part of typical American culture, how TV sets have taken over and come between the bonds of family and friends. I thought it was an interesting concept because I haven't really seen a work like this before, but I understand why the artist would do this.

http://www.owenericwood.com/qualitytimewiththefamily.html
http://www.owenericwood.com/qualitytimewiththefamily/installation.html
http://www.dwell.com/articles/ice-house-detroit.html http://icehousedetroit.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-01-15T17%3A56%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7
http://icehousedetroit.blogspot.com/