Fotoblog Jelle Jan de Schipper: 2022

woensdag 28 december 2022

The bosom of Abraham (Michael Parekowhai, 1999) - Auckland Art gallery, Auckland

Michael Parekowhai

Ngariki Rotoawe, Ngati Whakarongo

The Bosom of Abraham 1999

Ink on lightbox, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki

Kōwhaiwai patterns are customarily found within the rafters of the wharenui or whare tūpuna, the ancestral house. A place of tribal identity and council, the wharenui is multifaceted in its purpose. In describing he wharenui of his iwi, Michael Parekōwhai says: ‘[it] is not used anymore, but it is abandoned only in the physical sense. This is because we know we belong to this place. We carry its spirit with us, wherever we go …. Our living marae is really our suburban family home….’

For many urban-dwelling Māori this is a familiar scenario, in which the emotional and cultural values of the papa kāinga (original home, village), where the marae is located, are transferred to the suburban home. In Christian ideology the ‘bosom of Abraham’ relates to heaven and in te ao Māori (the Māori worldview) the term te poho, or bosom, appears in many place names to refer to the nourishment and nurturing of the land.