Arotake: The Artist nā Ruby Solly

Ko ngā pukapuka katoa ka hokona mā tēnei hononga ka āwhina i a mātou ki te arotake i ētahi atu pukapuka nō Aotearoa - ngā mihi ki a koe mōu i tautoko i ngā pukapuka me ngā kaituhi o Aotearoa.

He takinga kōrero mā te toikupu mō ngā iwi whakahirahira o Te Tonga 'and ways of knowing grounded in whakapapa'.

Nā Robert Sullivan

I tāngia tuatahitia i te reo Pākehā i te Aoteroa New Zealand Review of Books. E mihi ana ki a Aotearoa New Zealand Review of Books me Robert Sullivan. 

First published in English here on the Aoteroa New Zealand Review of Books. Our thanks to the Aotearoa New Zealand Review of Books and Robert Sullivan.

E whakawhenuatia ana te pukapuka tuarua a Ruby Solly mā te pūrākau me ngā tikanga tuarangi o ngā iwi o Te Waipounamu, arā, ko Waitaha, ko Kāti Māmoe me Kāi Tahu, e paki ana i tētahi kōrero kotahi mā tētahi kohinga o ētahi toikupu e honoho ana. Ko te rere o te waiata o roto he whiri i ngā kōrero a ngā kaikōrero. Ko ngā rārangi huataki o te toikupu tuatahi, o ‘Sing’, e kī ana:

At the start there is nothing but black sandexcept it is wider than we can know,deeper than we can feel. 

Ahakoa ‘we are not yet a we’, ko tātou te ‘pulse of potential’ i roto i a tātou anō,  ā, ka huri ngā kiri kerekere hei ‘a black river’, kātahi ka ‘fiery chain’. I taku pānuitanga, ānō nei ki ahau he tatau ki ao kē, me ngā whakapapa hoki o te iwi nui katoa o Te Waipounamu.

He kaipuoro, he kaitito toikupu a Solly, ā, mā te whakamahi rautaki waiata, puoru hoki - pēnei i te ‘ta ta ta’ e hangai ana ki te taonga puoro me te manawa — e taunaki tā tātou whakatewhatewha i ngā hua o te paki e whakahikohikohia ana e te whakapapa. I pārekareka ki ahau te rere o The Artist, me ngā tū i waenganui i ngā wāhanga me ngā toikupu motuhake, ehara i te mea e kapo ana i te iho o te kōrero i ngā wā katoa, engari e whakamiha ana i te takitakinga whakapaparanga o te tuhinga, ka mahara rā ahau ki ngā tuhinga a Vedic pēnei i a Bhagavad Gita ka torotoro ki te ao wairua me ngā hītori hurihuri.

He tauira mō tēnei momo mahi i te mātātuhi o Aotearoa. Ko tā Keri Hulme Moeraki Conversations whakaaraara i te mauri ora o te whenua me te kōrero anō mō te ao ka kitea me te ao e kore e kitea. Ko tā Albert Wendt The Adventures of Vela pakanga i te wāhi me te ora kei roto i ngā whakapapa i a ia ka whakawaha i a Vela, te māngai o te atua Nafanua. Arā, he pāorooro hoki o ētahi atu tuhinga i te whakamahinga o ētahi whakaaraara atua, ngā pikitia o te pōuriuri e tauutuutua ana ki te pikitia o te ahi kā, ā, me ngā taunga mai i hua ai ngā tūtakitanga i pā kaha ki te whakapapa me te tūrakawaewae. I tā Pablo Neruda Canto General he nui ake te āwhata, engari kei tērā taumata te ao o The Artist.

I ‘He Ao He Kōpae’, ka kohaina ki ngā tamāhine o Waitaha tētahi kōwhiu e Hinepūnui o Toka, ā, ka hua mai ko ngā hau maha. (‘Sing us into the wind/says the song.’) I te toikupu ka whai ake, ka wheako tātou i te nui o Rākaihautū nōnā ka whakairoiro i ‘our landscapes’ ki tana tokotoko, ki a Tuhiraki. Ka kitea tēnei i The Artist me ōna whakapuakanga maha ki ngā momo tuhi, tae atu rā ki te tā moko, me te toi: Feel it flow / from the brush / to the stone.’ (‘Kāti Māmoe’)

Ko te wā tonu ka whakatangatahia i konei i te taunga mai o Kāi Tahu:

Tākitimu waka,Capsized mountainsboth here and not herein this place where time kisses itselflike old lovers finding each otherfor the first time.

Ko te kitea hoki o te pounamu ka āta whakaahuatia hei wahine mau mātauranga ki a Kāi Tahu mō tēnei taonga

The woman they call mad,all tousled hair and wide eyes,crosses the mountainswith that hard stone, pounamu,held tight at her breast.This stone with green water trapped withinthe hair cut from Hinepounamu,here to escape the sandstone woman, Hinehoakaand her death of one thousand cuts.

 (‘Kāi Tahu’)

Mā ēnei kōrero e ara ai tētahi momo mōhio e whakawhenuatia ana ki te whakapapa. Ko te pānga mai ki ahau ko te tuku i taku horopaki aupēhi me te rere tahi ki te iere o te toikupu inā rā e whakapono ana ahau ki te tūāpapa o te kaituhi i ngā tikanga me te mātauranga, ā, me tōna haepapa ki te hapū me te iwi. I roto i tēnei tauira taketake o ētahi wairua kōrero, te whakapapa me te taiao, he kuia a Hinepūnui e mau ana i te mana o ōna tīpuna. Hei rangatahi, ko Hana - tāna mokopuna - ka waiata i ngā ana, ā, i whakaaweawetia e te toi i reira.

Ka tūtaki a Hana ki a Matiu, kua minaminahia e tāna waiata mō ngā tīpuna e waiata ana nō roto mai i ōna wheue. Nā tō rāua moenga, e herea ana ki ngā takinga mō te orokahanga, ka hua mai ko ā rāua māhanga pūmanawanui, ko Te Heikiki rāua ko Reremai. Ko ‘Naming Day,’ he toikupu kakare mō te tikanga, ka whakaahua i te tapanga o rāua e tō rāua kuia.

Ka keria ana e Matiu, tō rāua pāpā, he rua mō ō rāua pito me ‘all his mamae, / all his frustration and fear’, ka mahara ahau ki te toikupu hirahira a Solly ko ‘Six Feet for a Single, Eight Feet for a Double’. I tērā mahi, he pāpā anō e keri rua tūpāpaku ana, engari i tērā he mahi hei whakamoe mārire i tētahi, i The Artist he hangahanga kē te mahi. Hei tauira, he tohu te pēpi, ko Aukumea mō ngā pēpi e moemoeā ana i te rangi tuawaru o tō tātou ao tuarangi.

Aukumeabegins to singin an enchanted voicemade of multitudes:the irirangi, the irewaru,the voices of the wind sisters toosinging with the celestial choirdistilled down to just one thread.

(‘Kā Kaitapere’)

Ka ui haere tonu te pāorooro o ngā rangi/raki mā te pikitia o ngā kete mātauranga.

Ka nui noa atu ngā arotakenga mō tēnei pukapuka, ā, e pūhou tonu ana ngā rā e mārama ai tātou ki ōna kura huna katoa. He āpitihanga kounga a The Artist ki tō tātou rāngai mātātuhi. Ka tīkina mai ko te mātauranga nō te takere o Te Waipounamu. I runga i tērā, he tohu aroha tēnei ki ngā auahatanga o ō tātou tīpuna, ngā tohu maha me ngā toi i ngā ana, i ngā wharau toka i mua, i muri mai hoki i te tūtakihanga ki te Pākehā, engari ka rere tonu atu i te tirohanga o te tūtakihanga ki te whakanui i tō tātou manawatītī. Ko mātou te whakatinanatanga o ēnei, ā, ko ‘The Artist’ tētahi whakatinanatanga e whakanui ana i a tātou:

on top of skin just woken,the paintings of the Artistthread lines of fresh-cut riverskōkōwai and oilover her abdomen,down and outand through to the oceanwe were fished from.

 (‘Awaken; Maniori’)

Mō te hunga e ngākau nui ana ki te toikupu auaha - i te mātātuhi o Aotearoa, mātātuhi taketake, mātātuhi Māori hoki - he pukapuka hirahira tēnei, otirā, he pukapuka me puta. He āhuru mōwai a The Artist, he wharau kua waihangatia ki te toikupu, ā, me whakanui ka tika mō te āhua o te waihanganga mai, te wairua o te kōrero me te whakapapa.

Nā Robert Sullivan i arotake.