I have chosen to do a digital piece today that shows the work of 3 different artists from three different schools and ages.
The first artistic element:
The background of the piece was painted by my daughter as part of her final year exams and is a Maori flax kit, green lipped mussels, a bone fishing hook and twine. It is is painted in acrylics on thick board and I have always loved this piece. She had it framed for me as a gift and it's with me now in the UK.
Overlaying the background is one of New Zealands most famous artists: C. F. Goldie (1870 - 1947), who is renowned for painting photo-realistic images of the Maori dignitaries he met. He was born and educated in Auckland. The lady in this painting is Kapi Kapi who was an Arawa chieftainess who died in 1902 aged 102. She is wearing a traditional Maori cloak and a tiki around her neck, probably made of green stone. (Jade)
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| When is a tattoo not a tattoo? When it's a moko. |
The third artistic element:
The moko (Maori tattoo) displayed on the lips and chin of Kapi Kapi. The moko was not simply a tattoo, there was much tapu and ritual accorded to the process. It was also not just ink pierced into the skin, the tool used was an uhi, which was more of a small chisel and the healed moko had a distinct texture.
The ritual was slightly different between women and men but for the women a song would be sung called a whakawai taanga ngutu. This was to help them to remain stout-hearted and endure the pain of the uhi.
