Tāne Splitting Heaven and Earth
2023-2024
Butternut wood, urushi lacquer, pāua shell inlay metal on ...
Tāne Splitting Heaven and Earth reimagines a Māori creation story. In the beginning, Ranginui (the sky) and Papatūānuku (the earth) were joined together, and their children were born between them in darkness. Tāne, the God of forests, separated their parents to allow light to come into the world.
I have long been interested in creating hybrid mythologies through crafts methods, using them to articulate cultural intersections I’ve observed. The piece uses the pāua shell, which is native to New Zealand. Its technique references whakairo (Māori carving) and combines it with 黑漆嵌螺鈿 Chinese lacquerware mother-of-pearl inlay.