dilana

Ikarangi By Reuben Paterson 

Ikarangi ( 1000mm by 3000mm | Hand Knotted | wool + lurex + viscose ) 

My deeper connection to Christchurch began through art with the work Whakatata mai: do

you see what I see? For SCAPE: from a different angle, curated by the late Julie King and Tessa Giblin.

I reflected Riccarton House as a landscape, where the gables of the homestead became the maunga (mountains) of the land to source Māori identity which is often hidden, but resides within her. Māori history is not recorded the same way our European history is, and for me those fluctuations of optical art do their part to express an energy contained within land by Māori occupation.

This rug is the burn back that reveals what lies beneath through the performative action of shinging and scraping back the black and white areas in this latest rug, Ikarangi.

This ancient and traditional Persion technique is centuries old and allowed for the pure gold threads contained within the weave to stand tall. In the place of gold our trademarked lurex and viscose thread shines through within the bright relief of red poppies, that hover, suspended, over the land as Magellanic clouds.