Mai i te kei o ngā waka ki te ihu o ngā waka: Jeremy Leatinu’u

9 Mahuru – 26 Whiringa-ā-rangi 2023
9 September – 26 November 2023

E whakaatu ana a Mai i te kei o ngā waka ki te ihu o ngā waka i ngā haerenga e toru (he hīkoi, he haerenga, he wehenga) me ngā kōrero hekenga, ahakoa ngā whakatauaro, e hono tonu ana. Ko tēnei whakaaturanga nā Jeremy Leatinu’u he kohinga ataata torutoru ka toaitia, ka huri, whakatekaraka nei, i te whare whakaatu.

Ko te pūtake o ngā mahi a Leatinu’u ko ngā kōrero e toru mō te whenua me te rohe o Ōtāhuhu i Tāmaki Makaurau. Ka tīmata ki te pūrākau mō te waka o Tainui, tērā i kōrerotia i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā, he whakamaharatanga te haerenga tuatahi ki te hekenga o te iwi o Tainui i Hawaiki ki Aotearoa ki te rapu kāinga hōu. Ka huataki ake ki tētahi ata o te awa o Tāmaki, i tōia ai te waka i tētahi tōanga waka whāiti ki Te Mānukanuka o Hoturoa (Te Whanga o Manukau). Ko te aronga o te wāhanga tuarua o ēnei mahi ko te rima rautau mai i te taenga o te waka o Tainui, ka mutu, te taki i te taenga mai o te taua a te Kuini ki Ōtāhuhu i te ihu o ngā 1860. Nā tō rātau noho ki te takiwā i rangona ai te urutomonga o Waikato. Ko te tuatoru, ko ā mohoa nei, ka mutu, ka arotahitia te whare o ngā mātua o te ringatoi ki reira kitea ai taua tōanga waka tonu. Ko ngā ataata kāinga hei kaikōrero ki tētahi wāhi huihui mā ngā whakatupuranga o ngā whānau i heke mai i Hāmoa ki Aotearoa.

Ko te whakapākehātanga o te ingoa o Mai i te ihu o ngā waka ki te kei o ngā waka, he whakamahinga e whakaatu ana i ngā titonga maha e whai wāhi ana ki tētahi haerenga. Ka arohia e Leatinu’u ngā hononga ā-wheako, ā-kōrero paki hoki. Ko Mai i te kei o ngā waka ki te ihu o ngā waka te whakatinanatanga o ngā ara rerekē e whakaahuangia ai te tuakiri ā-iwi mā te takirua me ngā ara maha e whakatutukihia ana e te tangata ki te whakatū tahi i ngā kāinga hou me te āpōpō anō hoki.

He ringatoi a Jeremy Leatinu’u (nō Ngāti Maniapoto me Sāmoa) e noho ana ki Tāmaki Makaurau. I puta tōna ihu i te Tohu Paetahi Toi Ataata i te 2008, kātahi ka puta i te Tohu Pōkairua Tautara Toi i te 2009, i Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki Makaurau.

Mai i te kei o ngā waka ki te ihu o ngā waka presents three haerenga (meaning journey, trip, parting) exploring contrasting yet interlinked stories of migration.

Leantinu’u’s body of work centres its three narratives on the land and suburb of Ōtāhuhu in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Bookended by the story of Tainui waka as spoken in te reo Māori and English, the first haerenga recalls the voyaging of Tainui iwi from Hawaiki to Aotearoa in the search for a new home. The second part of this work follows five centuries after the arrival of the Tainui waka, recounting the arrival of the Queens Army to Ōtāhuhu in the early 1860s. Their settlement in the area signalled preparations to invade Waikato. Finally, the third haerenga brings us to the present and focuses on the home of the artist’s parents. Scenes of home speak to a gathering place for successive generations of their extended whānau who immigrated to Aotearoa from Sāmoa.

The title of this work translates in English to “from the front of the canoes to the back of the canoes”, suggesting multiple viewpoints that comprise a collective journey. Leatinu’u is interested in these overlapping layers of experience and storytelling. Mai i te kei o ngā waka ki te ihu o ngā waka embodies the different ways in which collective identity and meaning is shaped through acts of retelling, and the many ways people adapt to make new homes and futures together.

Jeremy Leatinuʻu (Ngāti Maniapoto and Sāmoa) is an artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau. He graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2008, then with a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Arts in 2009, both from the University of Auckland.