Detail: kiwi feather, goose egg, taxidermy by Cle Tukuitonga.
Taxidermy by Cle Tukuitonga. A possum captured in 2022 in Te Tai Tokerau (The Far North of Aotearoa New Zealand)
Translation: Te Toroa Pōhatu
Concept, Text and Assemblage: Sen McGlinn and Sonja van Kerkhoff
The bilingual text created by Sen, Te Toroa and Sonja refers in multi-layered ways to the complications of a being out of place. In the Māori language Rāwaho is the usual term for a predator but refers also to a being out of place and for one with no whakapapa (heritage) to the location they are in.
The text raises the question of aesthetics in relation to conservation, and the implications of agency as members of any society we are connected to.
The quotation from Baha'u'llah's Hidden Words refers to breath as metaphor for our commonality, also with animals introduced into our forests. Animals that look beautiful or cute.
These words play on the senses and consequences of things as a translingual poetic part of this work.
The text also lends a grounding to the mischievous looking beast caught in a Te Tai Tokerau (The Far North of Aotearoa New Zealand) forest sporting a kiwi feather adorned goose egg.
The referencing of a Prussian helmet of war and trophey taking is intentional, and while the bright pink foam may seem out of place, it is no more so than the other elements here.
Only the framed text in an upcycled frame is for sale. Limited edition of 19. Each framed text is $ 450.
