81 pou standing guard at Pātaka: Anton Forde
1 Jul 2024
This article first appeared in The Post 28 June, 2024
This article first appeared in The Post 28 June, 2024
We asked Waiheke Island artist Anton Forde about his exhibition Papare Eighty.one featuring 81 pou in the gallery – it's the largest papare contemporary pou installation he's created, and the first to be exhibited indoors.
I don’t know whether I discovered carving or carving discovered me. I’ve always been in awe of whakairo/carving and rāranga/weaving, and after I left school, I discovered bone and then wood carving. I travelled overseas and lived in Éire/Ireland for five years where I was drawn to stone carving, which is also a feature of my Papare series.
Solitude. Thinking. Responding not reacting. Silence. Taiao/ Nature. Sunrises and sunsets. Kotahitanga. Finishing work. Starting work. Maunga. Awa. Moana. Te Ao/ the world. Ancient art. Contemporary art that connects. Making the world a better place for our kids. The Hakone Open Air Museum. Toioho kī Āpiti – Professor Robert Jahnke and Professor Huia Tomlins-Jahnke. The love and understanding of my wife Karle and our children Te Kōmako and Tūī, and all the other people who support us in so many ways.
People often ask this, and I say it takes 500-800 years for the trees to grow and the stones often take millions of years to form. The tikanga of whakairo is passed down for generations.
I started working on Papare Eighty.one on 24 June 2022 – the first ever recognised Māori public holiday, and the work was completed, installed and blessed on 21 June 2024.
I normally sculpt seven days a week, starting early morning. My system is very regimented and goal-based with strict milestones that mean some long nights in my workshop.
The Mataraki constellation was visible on the date I started working on this project two years ago, and Matariki is visible now as the work is completed. There are nine whetū in the Matariki constellation, and the layout of the installation only works with 81: nine plus nine is 18; nine times nine is 81; 1881 is also an important year for Aotearoa.
Puanga is a celebration of a single whetū, and the ‘one’ of Papare Eighty.one is a smaller, cloaked ‘mokopuna’ – a pou that represents future generations.
Papare Eighty.one is the largest papare contemporary pou installation I’ve created, and the first to be exhibited indoors. The opportunity to present in a gallery involves a number of risks and challenges, and it’s been both daunting and exciting. I’m so grateful to the Pātaka team for their belief and support in making this work a reality. When you undertake a work of this scale there are sacrifices you make both personally and as a whānau.
I have worked closely with the Pātaka team to develop a site-specific formation of 81 pou in a chevron kaokao pattern, a weaving pattern connected with papare/protection. The pou are adorned with taonga pounamu, and six of the pou will be cloaked in contemporary kākahu – a collaborative work with kaiwhatu/weaver Shiree Reihana. The protective formation of these cloaked-pou elevate the importance of working together to protect the world for our young people so they can reach their potential.
One of the aims was to try and bring elements of taiao/ nature into the gallery. I want people to experience and connect with a message of unity and hope and to collectively safeguard Papatūānuku, our Earth, for future generations, as our tipuna/ ancestors have.
