Where light and footsteps fold

One of the starting points for this work is a sketch of the Rakahuri Ashley River by the artist’s uncle. North of Christchurch City, Rakahuri is one of the numerous rivers that flow into Te Tai o Maahunui Pegasus Bay. Rakahuri forms the basis for a repeating design on the exterior of the building where the tributaries of a braided river become abstracted, resembling other connected living things like tree branches or veins. They are offset by bands of colour that look like large paint swatches.

 
The second part of the design, inside Lux Espresso, uses colour to embody the action of weaving different things together. The artist has selected colours based on their names or significance to the gallery building and site—from “Hoki”, a verb which means to go back, or return (a blue-grey); to “Bilbao”, a bright green that colour matches CoCA gallery’s original modernist lampshades; the dark brown “Espresso”; and “Canterbury Clay” (tan), “Bone” (light brown); and “Triple Rakaia” (a warm grey), which each speak to the geomorphology and histories of occupation in Waitaha. 

 
Connecting the seen and unseen, Where light and footsteps fold explores the different intersections of the building—gallery, cafe, museum—and the whenua and histories upon which it stands in this part of the world. 

Ki whea whētuia ai te aho me te tapuae
Nā Megan Brady, 2022

He arowhāiti ki te wāhi, he matarua te matarahi Ki whea whētuia ai te aho me te tapuae nā Megan Brady mō CoCA. E rua kā pātū, ko tētahi kai waho o te whare, ko tērā atu kai roto i te wharekai ko Lux Cafe, e tuitui ana i kā kiteka o te awa tipuna o te rikatoi i Kā Pākihi Whakatekateka o Waitaha, me ētahi āhuataka hoahoa āhuareka e tohu ana i kā paparaka o te ahu nōhaka me te whakapapa.

 
Ko tētahi o kā pūtake tīmataka mō tēnei mahika toi, ko tētahi huahua o te awa Rakahuri nā te hākoro kēkē o te rikatoi. Ki te raki o Ōtautahi, ko Rakahuri tētahi o kā awa huhua e rere ana ki Te Tai o Maahunui. Ka noho a Rakahuri hai pūtake o te hoahoa tāruarua ki waho o te whare, e tūrehurehu haere ana kā kautawa o te awa whiria; e tairite ana ki ētahi atu toiora whai honoka, pēnei i te peka rākau, i te ia-auraki rānei. Ka karapitihia ērā ki kā tāhei tae, me he tīpako peita nui te āhua.

 
Kai te wāhaka tuarua o te hoahoa, ki rō Lux Espresso, ka whakamahia kā tae hai whakatinana i te mahi o te tuitui i kā mea rerekē kia kotahi. Ko kōwhiria e te rikatoi kā tae nō ruka i kā ikoa, i te hiraka rānei ki te whare whakaatu toi me te wāhi - mai i 'Hoki', he tūmahi mō te hoki atu (he ōrakihina); ki 'Bilbao', he kākāriki e rite ana ki kā kōpare rama akahou taketake o te whare whakaaturaka o CoCA; te parauri o 'Espresso'; me 'Canterbury Clay' (he hāura), 'Bone' (he hāuratea); me 'Triple Rakaia' (he hina mahana). Ērā katoa ka kōrero ki te mātai āhuataka whenua me kā kōrero ahikā i Waitaha.

 
E hono ana i kā mea kitea me kā mea e kore e kitea, ka tūhura ‘Ki whea whētuia ai te aho me te tapuae’ i kā pūtahi rerekē o te whare - he whare whakaatu toi, he wharekai, he whare taoka - tae atu ki te whenua me ōhona kōrero, arā te wāhi e tū ai te whare ki tēnei whaitua o te ao.