Beyond your tadpole stage // your spinal cord dissolves 〉〉〉〉〉〉〉2023
“Much like household appliances, human bodies have two sides of imperfect symmetry, which is easily taken for granted when we navigate the world around us. Many ocean dwellers have radial symmetry, like starfish, sand dollars, jellyfish, bottlecaps and kāeo (sea tulips). The sculptural taonga in this room enables several people to direct their focus along the radiating tendrils to a central body. This communal fixation is the basis of how a spectacle or a performance functions, and in this form, the relationship is made tangible. Mauri, a shared energy, can pass through this miniature landscape of rock, fibre, plastic, water.” - Louie Zalk-Neale
Beyond your tadpole stage features tī kōuka which has been woven using a technique for making kawe, a type of carrying strap. Tī kōuka fibre is used for water activity because it lasts a long time before breaking down. Carved pungapunga stones float inside the water barrel, their buoyancy a reference to floats used in customary Māori fishing equipment. This artwork is a collaborative effort where Zalk-Neale has worked with three artists who each enmesh their practices into the project: Adam Ben-Dror, Neke Moa and Dr Tāwhanga Nopera.
This work was presented in the exhibition She could lie on her back and sink at Gus Fisher Gallery (Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, NZ) which explores artistic responses to the figure of the witch in the context of both indigenous Aotearoa and European lineages. The exhibition is framed through an intersectional feminist lens where wise women and customary knowledge holders are revered because of the way they engage with nature. It featured photographer Ann Shelton, Turner-prize winning artist Tai Shani, and Jayne Parker.
Louie’s work was restaged at Performance Art Week Aotearoa 2023 (PAWA) in Pōneke Wellington.
Plastic barrel, PETG plastic, seawater, tī kōuka fibre (Cordyline australis, cabbage tree), harakeke (Phormium tenax, NZ flax), pungapunga (pumice), pounamu (jade and serpentine), ōnewa (graywacke), kōkawa (andesite), tokauku (shale), takawai (quartz), washing machine pump, refrigerator air compressor, motion sensor, misc electronics. Sculpture, performance and papamahi (workshop).
By Louie Zalk-Neale (Ngāi Te Rangi, Pākehā) with Adam Ben-Dror (Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Tangata Tiriti), Neke Moa (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Ahuriri, Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) and Dr Tāwhanga Nopera (Te Arawa, Tūwharetoa, Tainui, Ngāpuhi)
Articles:
Submerging Psychedelia: She Could Lie on Her Back and Sink - by Misong Kim
PAWA 2023: Opening Night - by Brooke Pou
PAWA 2023: Louie’s hikoi to Opening Night - by Amber Clausner