I te rokohanga tuatahi ā ngā whakaahua a Maraea Timutimu, ka kīa he whakaahua māori.

Kei pōhēhē, he mea āta tāpapa i ngā matū māori i huraina ai te hōhonutanga. Ko ngā kōhatu me ngā uku i kohia, i tīkina i ngā ara wai o ngā ūkaipō, i ngā pā kaiahi i Matapihi, i Tauranga Moana, i Ruatoki, i te Tai Rāwhiti rā anō. He whakaahua ēnei tū āhua – hei whakakanohi ā-roto i ōna iho pūmanawa. He kūaha motuhenga rātou ki ngā tātaihanga ki te whenua, ki te whakapapa mā te tirohanga Māori.

E aia ki a Timutimu, “Ki te mātaihia te whenua e māori noa ana, ka kitea ngā whakapaparanga. He kāwai anō kei ēnei whakapapa, i ngā kano o Papatūānuku, e tūhono nei i a ia e tau ai te wāhi, me te wā. He whakaahua tāna i ā tātou tūāhua a kāwai heke ake.”

Ka whakaatahia tēnei tāpapahanga i te whakakitenga
 

Upon first glance Maraea Timutimu’s photographs could be read as still lifes.

In fact, the artist’s careful layering of organic materials reveals something much deeper.

The rocks and clay she has assembled have been collected from the waterways of her maternal and paternal kāinga at Matapihi, Tauranga Moana, and Rūātoki, Eastern Bay of Plenty. These totemic forms are portraits - poetically standing in for people who are important to the artist. They provide a unique insight into the connectedness of whenua and whakapapa through a Māori lens.

“When we view whenua in its natural state, we see that it is made up of layers. These layers all have a whakapapa, derived from the natural pigments of Papatūānuku (mother earth) connecting it to place and time. It depicts us and the makeup of our individual genealogy” says Timutimu.

This layering is reflected in the physical exhibition space, in which the photographs are flanked by the whenua itself and a soundtrack recorded by the artist at Owhakatoro stream which lies next to the artist’s marae in Rūātoki.

Experienced collectively, Timutimu encourages the viewer to enter a meditative state in which we are invited to reflect upon the people, places, stories and histories that are important to each of us.