Tino Rangatira Tanga is a powerful exhibition by emerging Maori and Pacific artist Leilani Kake (Tainui, Ngāpuhi, Cook Island, American). Filmed entirely on hand held camera Tino Rangatira Tanga follows Kake as she documents her fathers tā moko (Māori facial tattooing) and his subsequent illness and passing. The footage, shot in first person perspective with Kake behind the lens, provides the audience with an opportunity to experience these sacred moments through her eyes. The exhibition runs at the Deane Gallery, 101 Wakefield Street, Wellington until 13 June 2010. Kake is an Auckland-based video installation artist who utilises narratives taken directly from her personal life to comment on larger issues facing Māori and Pacific Island communities living in Aotearoa New Zealand. She gained a Degree in Visual Arts at the Manukau Institute of Technology in 2002 and returned in 2005 to undertake postgraduate studies in Fine Arts. She regularly exhibits nationally and abroad, and recently presented a paper on Māori and Pacific urban arts in Aotearoa New Zealand to the Los Angeles College Art Association (2009) in San Francisco. In 2005, she was awarded the Salamander Gallery/Creative New Zealand Emerging Pacific Visual Artist Award. Tino Rangatira Tanga was first exhibited at the Fresh Gallery Otara, Auckland, in 2008.
(Image adapted from Ema Tavola’s Colour Me Fiji blog.)
