Returned

I met with representatives of local tribal groups and invited them to join a private workshop. This led to exchange of information about their difficulties to confront the Waitangi Tribunal about land claims and a better understanding of rock drawings and what they might mean. It also gave me the space to complete a large series of experimental limestone tiles to test over 50 samples of ochre I had collected around `New Zealand with 4 bird and fish oils traditionally used as a medium for pigment.

This led to building Rangi’s Wall to test and record the tiles over a few years of heavy weathering.

2013-2018 ochre workshops; Wellington and Hokianga, North Island and 4 tribal meeting places down the east coast of the South Island. To gain permission to give workshops in  tribal meeting places was an achievement because I had to gain the respect of the tribal leadership and prove that I was giving something useful. A big question asked is always “and what are you doing for us?” I was sharing knowledge I had researched on rock drawing processes that had been forgotten. Also to precisely locate the areas with ochre and have them tested in Sydney at a nuclear facility thanks to a grant in collaboration with Rachel Popelka-filcoff, a scientist at Flinders University. The results would allow tribal groups to locate artefacts that originated on their land because of distinct ‘fingerprints’ of each ochre source. For the last workshop on the Arowhenua Marae, which had been the most difficult group to approach, I was able by then to demonstrate, through my experimentation on limestone tiles with ochre and oils, that it wasn’t only weathering that threatened the longevity of rock drawings but also the practice of spraying the drawings with water. Local guides did this to enable visitors to see the fading colours more clearly. However, their tribal claim to visit the sacred places where the drawings are found relies on there being visible drawings because much of the land is owned by white New Zealand farmers. The exchange for me was to receive open and honest views on colonialism and its effects.