Bethany Edmunds
RĀ TUARUA | 1.00PM
MANAWA TOUTOU | MĀTIRO WHAKAMUA
Me aro koe ki te hā o Hine-ahu-one: Ngāpuhi art as part of our daily life and as an expression of our identity: the foundation for excellence.
MĀTIRO WHAKAMUA:
Looking over the horizon into the next 5–25 years.
Bethany Edmunds.
If we consider taonga tawhito as a physical manifestation of the philosophies and mātauranga of our tupuna, they become portals through space and time that emotionally, spiritually and culturally bind us and connect our lines of descent to our atua. Ringatoi hold the ability and responsibility in our hands to activate that mātauranga through the continuation of our toi practises.
The inaugural Toi Ngāpuhi Tai o Hī Tai o Hā Wananga Toi Series created a platform for the exploration of what a living toi Māori society might look like here and now. Creating opportunities to weave knowledge exchange between generations of artists and art forms within the warm embrace of our whare whakairo across Te Taitokerau.
Ko Maunga Piko te maunga
Ko Parengarenga te moana
Ko Waitiki te awa
Ko Kurahaupo te waka
Ko Te Hiku o te Ika me Waiora nga marae
Ko Ngati Kuri te iwi Ko Pohotiare te hapu
Ko Raharuhi raharuhi te tupuna (2021)
Ko Bethany Matai Edmunds toku ingoa
In her practice as an artist and curator, Bethany Matai Edmunds re-imagines tūpuna kōrero (ancestral stories) to articulate Māori urban perspectives and retain ngā taonga tuku iho (the skills passed down from ancestors) for future generations.
Integral to Edmunds’ multidisciplinary practice is raranga (weaving), which she learnt from her family members, and from the renowned cloak weaver Nikki Lawrence (Te Rarawa) while studying for her Bachelor of Applied Arts: Māori Design and Technology. She developed this interest in her research thesis for a Master of Arts at New York University, investigating the conservation, storage and display of Māori cloaks across four museums in the United States of America.
Upon her return to Aotearoa Edmunds' spent 7 years at Tamaki Paenga Hira, Auckland Museum, as Youth Outreach Programmer and Associate Curator Maori. Most recently she designed and delivered the inaugural Tai o Hi Tai o Ha Wananga Toi Series, a Toi Ngapuhi initiative to encourage young aspiring artists to pursue creative pathways and opportunities across Te Tai Tokerau.
