Itwe Wapahta

Mangere Arts Centre - Nga Tohu o Uenuku latest exhibition, Itwe Wapahta, features works made by rangatahi (young people), for rangatahi.

Showcasing the beauty of the landscapes, sound of language in the work and the individual personalities and stories, Wapahta also addresses the correspondence and complexity of issues that surround Maori and Pacific Island people of Aotearoa.

The concerns discussed and ideas provoked by the works resonate with not only tangata whenua (people of the land) and the Polynesian diaspora – but with immigrants of all backgrounds.

The Mangere Arts Centre is proud to celebrate and welcome the brave vision and dream of Itwe, to address these issues within the context of visual art – using sound, story telling and moving image to insist that it is possible to encourage, rejuvenate and then prosper.

The Itwe Collective from the Winnipeg region of Canada has produced Wapahta. The idea developed through connections that have been growing over many years of networking between international indigenous artists and curators, but is the first of its specific kind in Aotearoa.

Viewing indigenous moving image from across the globe is always a challenge and comes with much associated context that can be both as disarming as it is fertile. What can apparently be isolated can also be close to home.

Me ka moemoea ahau, ko ahau anake. Me ka moemoea tatou, ka taea e tatou. If I am to dream, I dream alone. If we all dream together, we will achieve.

- Princess Te Puea, Waikato

Exhibition:

When: 1 – 31 August

Where: Mangere Arts Centre - Nga Tohu o Uenuku

Corner Bader Drive and Orly Avenue, Mangere

Opening function: Saturday 6 August, 2pm