Lovie Smith
“Ka Pu te ruta, ka hao te rangatahi — As the old net piles up on shore, the new net goes fishing.
The [pattern] of the old provides the basis of formation of the new. The new dictates changes in both the structure and form of the new net, and also in the choice of fishing ground. By casting it to sea, the old net may tell us even more than we dare hope for. The care taken is reassuring. It is the fishing exercise that now commands our attention, and this must be executed in the same spirit in which the old net was prepared and made.”
As an artist I am observing and responding to the liminal space between culture and the contemporary that connects my past and my present. Contrary to its associated ambiguity, this space has become an anchor within my practice and creativity. Identity, resilience, place and belonging; these themes provide the hold. A focus motivated by my own experience and yearning to know who I am.
Materiality is the vessel for my findings, thoughts and ideas to culminate. I look at and use materiality to communicate a liminal language between intergenerational pasts and the contemporary present to question conversations of morality, archive and reflection.
Schaef, A W 1995, Native Wisdom for white minds: Daily Reflections Inspired by the Native People of the World, Ballantine Books, New York, USA.
I AM - The hold, The Bind, The Link, The Vessel, 2020
Visual performance
00:02:29
I AM, 2020
The Hold, The Bind, The Link, The Vessel (of knowledge)
Copper, sterling silver, pounamu
Bond, 2020
Whale bone, kauri gum, sterling silver
76mm x 28mm x 9mm
Cut from a different cloth, 2020
Operculum shell, pupu shell, sterling silver, vivac
