Leilani Kake: Tino Rangatira Tanga exhibition
Video artist Leilani Kake remembers her father at City Gallery Wellington
3 April – 13 June 2010 in the Deane Gallery
In 2004 artist Leilani Kake found herself standing on the roof of a bus filming protesters participating in the landmark foreshore and seabed hikoi. As multitudes of people marched by she spotted her father Richard Kake carrying her younger brother upon his shoulders. Seeing her family from behind the camera lens, Kake realised that she was not just an observer of this event – she was a part of the story.
She began documenting the socio-political activities of her father Richard Kake, a staunch advocate for his Northland iwi (Ngāpuhi), to create a historical record of the trials and tribulations of a modern day Rangatira (Māori leader).
A part of that story will be told at City Gallery Wellington from 3 April to 13 June, in Leilani Kake’s video tryptich Tino Rangatira Tanga. Filmed in first-person perspective, this gritty documentary-style video installation portrays the Māori process of Tā Moko and Tangihanga. The work explores how waiata, in its many forms, is used in the daily lives of Māori families.
The installation begins with Richard Kake receiving his Tā Moko (Māori facial tattoo) from renowned Tā Moko artist Gordon Toi Hadfield and ends at their Northland family Marae where Kake is laid to rest after his untimely death. The whole installation is set amidst a rich acoustic soundtrack of waiata and pop reggae demonstrating the dynamic role of song and music in Māori communities. Filmed entirely by hand-held camera, Tino Rangatira Tanga invites the viewer to witness these raw, emotional and momentous events.
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