Ebb

Ebb

Maureen Lander & Denise Batchelor

Mokopōpaki
Ground Floor, 454 Karangahape Road, Auckland

11 March – 25 April 2020

Postponed due to COVID 19 response, all NZ art galleries closed.

Read the review by John Hurrell for EyeContact

Opening Wednesday 11 March, from 6 – 8pm
Tea will be served with Chilled Jellyfish Salad, seaweed crackers and beetroot hummus.
Nau mai, Haere mai!

Denise Batchelor, Tai Timu (film still), 2020

Ebb. v. (of the sea or its tide) to move away from the coast and fall to a lower level or more generally (of something) to become less or disappear.

Ebb is a short, single syllable English word that refers to movement. Particularly the ebb and flow of sea and tides or the comings and goings that determine natural cycles of change and renewal. Ebb acknowledges these seen and unseen rhythms of life, and in the ironic proposal of an overtly different direction, creates a tension that brings opposing forces together.

This concept is also summarised in a little waiata, often taught to young women on the cusp of adulthood. Here, the loss of girlish innocence is likened to an ebb tide. There is no moment for pause as the world of experience will soon overflow to consume all.

Tai timu, tai pari

Taihoa e haere

Kia mutu taku riringi

Roimata ē

Ebbing tide, flowing tide

Wait a while before turning

Until I am done shedding

Tears

Reference: Waiata Māori, Vol 1, 60: 93. Collected by H.T. Rikihana.

Auckland: Te Rōpū Tautoko i Te Reo Māori, 1992. Translation by Mokopōpaki.