SIMON KAAN & WI TAEPA

Nohoaka toi ki Puketeraki

Sanderson are pleased to announce a new exhibition by Simon Kaan (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Waitaha) and Wi Taepa (Ngāti Pikiao, Te Arawa) ONZM - Nohoaka toi ki Puketeraki 2024.

Opening on September 18th the exhibition will present a series of new work by Kaan and Taepa that has been produced as a result of a Creative New Zealand Fellowship Fund.

Over three weeks in August, Kaan and Taepa collaborated together, alongside emerging ceramicist Jess Nicholson (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Waitaha) in the village of Karitane, just north of Otepoti Dunedin, warmly hosted by whānau from Kati Huirapa ki Puketeraki.

The residency embraced a kaupapa māori approach of tuakana-teina: Nicholson and Kaan providing technical support to Taepa, and Taepa in turn sharing his 40 years of knowledge of whakapapa uku.

The result of this collaborative process has led to a new body of work being made for Kaan and Taepa’s 2024 exhibition including an ink on fibre glass series by Kaan, a collection of hand printed ceramic tiles and ceramic works by Taepa, and ink and kokowai on cotton rag prints by Taepa. Inspiration is drawn from the coastline of Te Tai-o-Araiteuru, with local materials and pigments being used to produce this new series.
 
‘Both Wi and Simon have distinct visual languages; their vocabularies seem familiar, as they speak across vessels and memory.’[1]
 
Where Taepa moulds his works from clay, from the whenua, and plays with te ao marama ‘the world of light’ [2] Kaan mixes wai and ink, and delicately constructs seascapes with the marama (the moon) and waka always present.
 
This is the fourth exhibition Kaan and Taepa have presented together at the gallery. Their friendship and whakapapa strengthens their artistic one [3] and having this shared communion, this whakahoanga, is vital to their sense of belonging, their kaupapa and their practice'.