This work is an ode to Parawhenuamea, the Māori ancestor of earthly water. The orange forms referencing her ability to shift and allocate life-giving iron particles through the water, into the land, into the plants, into our bodies, into our blood. In te taiao, biogenic iron can be seen as bright orange sludge in streams, often accompanied with a blue iridescent sheen given off by iron-eating bacteria. The fine particles of iron oxides in water were used by tūpuna Māori to make paint. The heat-treated and processed paint was used as an art material, in ceremony, for personal adornment and as rongoā. The flag that flies as a part of this sculpture is painted with these iron oxides.

Artist Bio

Sarah Hudson is a Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Pūkeko artist, researcher and mum from Whakatāne, Aotearoa. As a founding member of Kauae Raro Research Collective, Sarah has spent the last three years promoting and protecting Māori earth pigment paint-making practices. She splits her time between home-educating her 8-year-old, implementing research projects for Kauae Raro, and creating works with her other art collaboration, Mataaho Collective.