Pūrākau

Pūrākau is one part of Kura Moana installations created by Artist in Focus Lisa Reihana, Commissioned by Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of Arts, 2022.

Rerehua ana tāna topaki i runga i te pouwhenua i runga o Taone ki Piriti Moana He kapo whakaahua tāna mahi, otirā he kōrero mō te whakaatuatanga.

Te Wheke o Muturangi calmly surveys passers-by, sensuously hovering above the City to Sea Bridge navigational pouwhenua. Te Wheke o Muturangi takes selfies and tells us about becoming a deity.

Te Wheke o Muturangi - Jahra Wasasala Concept - Lisa Reihana DOP - Gareth Moon Grip - Fraser McKay VFX - Assembly Ltd: Clare Bone, Damon Duncan, Rhys Dippie, Matt von Trott, Elliot Stronge, Matt Wilson Sound Design - James Pinker & Sean Cooper Costume - Bob Buck Hair & Makeup: Stefan Knight Production Coordinator: Ruby Reihana-Wilson Hair & Makeup Assist - Luana Millar Costume Standby - Dan Cruden, Ani O'Neil Costume Makers - Shona Ward, Gillie Coxill, Dan Cruden, Ani O'Neil Runner: Jaya Beach-Robertson Thanks to Ana Hiini, TAPAC

Pūrākau

Firstly, find me a witness. I have decided to peel the mythology from my body. Humans, Bodies full of mouths, Heads full of prophecies, yet not enough language. To hold anyone that is more than one, at once Empty your stomach of rubies, guns and earth. Remember what the omnipotent tastes like.

I have no room for mercy, only for beginnings I know the terrors imagination, the brilliance of birth I do not belong to a wounded ocean And neither did she

She has as many names as there are days to be born But look for her, she cannot be found The god has swallowed the saga whole The name has climbed back up into the mouth

A voice with so much blood in it Listen, as it summons the va from in-between her own legs her children are marked as medicine, as ancestory. All of whom have ingested every tired world before They have spun the old violence like silk through teeth

A name like hers, A name like that knows what is needed to build a pantheons body