He Whare Ātaahua: Jade Townsend

9 Hakihea 2023 - 14 Paengawhāwhā 2024
9 December 2023  - 14 April 2024

He puninga toi a He Whare Ātaahua nā Jade Townsend e whakakotahi ana i ngā tukunga iho rerekē o te peita me te whakarākei. Ka noho ngā mahi papamuka ki ngā anga nunui kua peitahia, ā, ka whakairia ki ngā pakitara o te whare toi, me he tōrino ki te tuanui, hei whakarākei i te whare. He mea iri e Townsend āna anga huri noa i te whare tapaono nei ānō he kōmore nui, hei tohu ki tōna whakapapa me ōna hononga ki Heretaunga.

Ko te taitara whakaaturanga "he whare ātaahua", e whakakōrero ana i ō Townsend whakaaro mō tēnei mea te ātaahua, ā-ahurea nei, ā-tinana nei me te hononga ki te taiao. I toko ake i āna mahi toi e rua, ko te tuatahi ko te tuanui o te wharekai i Te Kāreti o Te Aute i Ōtāne, nā John Hovell me ngā tauira i peita. Ko te tuarua ko te 1882 kauhau nā Oscar Wilde e kīia nei ko "Te Whare Ātaahua", e whakanui ana i te hiranga o te wāhi nui o te taiao e noho nei te tangata.

Ko te wharekai nā Hovell i whakarākei e kīia ana he haerenga i roto i ngā whenua kaiao o nehe, e whakaatu ana ia huinga kōwhaiwhai i te pūnaha hauropi o te moana me te takutai. Ko ngā pakitara nā Townsend hei mihi ki ngā taera o Hovell engari he rite tonu te awe o ngā mahi a tōna pāpā, he kaituhi-haina o mua ki Heretaunga. Ka aro āna mahi ki ngā ara rerekē o te tuhi whakapapa mā te peita, i ngā wā rerekē ki rō whare.

Jade Townsend (Nō Ngāti Kahungunu, nō Te Ātihaunui-a-Pāpārangi, he Pākehā anō hoki), e noho ana, e mahi ana ki Tāmaki Makaurau. Ka ahu mai āna mahi i ngā wāhanga rerekē o tōna ake ao hei hononga ki ō te wā nei mahi toi Māori. I whānau mai ia ki Whanganui, ki reira whakapakekehia ai, nōnā e rangatahi ana hūnuku ai ia ki Liverpool ki reira ka aronuitia ai e ia ngā mita, ngā kīwaha, ngā pakiwaitara, me ngā pūrākau. Ka eke ia ki te rua tekau tau ka tutuki tana ako ki te Kura Toi o Manchester hoki mai a Townsend ki Aotearoa, ā, e whakaatu tonu nei i ana mahi ki te motu me te ao.

He Whare Ātaahua is an installation by Jade Townsend which combines different traditions of painting, adornment, and decoration. Works on linen are hung among large shells painted directly onto the gallery walls, spiralling up to the ceiling, in conversation with the architecture. Townsend has strung her shell paintings around the hexagonal gallery like a huge bracelet, representing facets of her own whakapapa and connections to Heretaunga.

The exhibition title, meaning “a beautiful house”, speaks to Townsend’s interest in layering cultural ideas of aesthetic beauty and finding meaning within our environment. It also acknowledges two important references for her body of work. The first is the ceiling panels of the wharekai (dining hall) at Te Aute College in Ōtane, Central Hawke's Bay, painted by John Hovell and his students. The second is an 1882 Lecture by Oscar Wilde called “The House Beautiful”, emphasising the importance of one’s immediate surroundings in a fulfilling life.

Hovell’s wharekai is described as a journey through the ecological landscapes of the old time, with each kōwhaiwhai panel representing a connected ecosystem of the sea and coastal environment. Townsend’s wall paintings acknowledge Hovell’s decorative style and imagery yet are equally influenced by the work of her father, who was once as a sign-writer in Hastings. Her installation looks to different ways of documenting whakapapa through paint, in enduring and ephemeral interventions within the built environment.   

Jade Townsend (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Ātihaunui-a-Pāpārangi, Pākehā, British), lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Her work often draws from the different parts of her own heritage, in conversation with contemporary Māori painting and aesthetics. Born and raised in Whanganui, she moved to Liverpool as a teenager, where she became interested in accents, dialects, regional slang, folktales, and pūrākau. Townsend returned to Aotearoa in her mid-twenties, after studying at the Manchester School of Art and continues to exhibit nationally and internationally.