Sculpture & Installation > Unfoldment (2018)
Unfoldment - X-Marks: Conversations in Cloth, Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi, Bay of Islands
A textile exhibition bringing to life the long-silent voices and daily activities of both Māori and Pākehā women from a pivotal period in New Zealand’s history. With historic Mission samplers at its centre, it explores the relationships established between missionary and settler wives and Māori women living in the Bay of Islands in the early 1800s. Textile artists Vivien Caughley, Makareta Jahnke, Maureen Lander, Toi Te Rito Maihi, Dude Beatson, Michelle Mayn, Jo Torr and Helen Schamroth, among others, were each invited to respond to various aspects of these likely exchanges by creating their own pieces, bringing a contemporary understanding to the possible interactions.
A textile exhibition bringing to life the long-silent voices and daily activities of both Māori and Pākehā women from a pivotal period in New Zealand’s history. With historic Mission samplers at its centre, it explores the relationships established between missionary and settler wives and Māori women living in the Bay of Islands in the early 1800s. Textile artists Vivien Caughley, Makareta Jahnke, Maureen Lander, Toi Te Rito Maihi, Dude Beatson, Michelle Mayn, Jo Torr and Helen Schamroth, among others, were each invited to respond to various aspects of these likely exchanges by creating their own pieces, bringing a contemporary understanding to the possible interactions.
Jane Kendall and the Legacy of Silence
Imaginings unveiled through the footnotes
in an unfolding breath of a lifespan
transcribed through stitched thread
and mnemonic marks
of marriage and migrations,
births and deaths . . .
in an unfolding breath of a lifespan
transcribed through stitched thread
and mnemonic marks
of marriage and migrations,
births and deaths . . .
Unfoldment (2018)
Muka (New Zealand Flax fibre), cotton, feather, stone
3355 H x 6500 W x 100 D cm (variable on installation)
Muka (New Zealand Flax fibre), cotton, feather, stone
3355 H x 6500 W x 100 D cm (variable on installation)
“Thus am I, like a feather on the breath of God.” Hildegard of Bingen
