A huri i tō mata i te pō is a series of three editorial texts responding to works by Indigenous Pacific artists working in moving image, curated and written by CIRCUIT’s Mana Moana resident Mauatua Fa’ara-Reynolds.
Together, the commissioned texts and accompanying video works consider how Pacific artists are transforming the screen from a colonial apparatus into a reparative portal. As we turn our gaze towards the infinite potential of te pō, spirits come alive. Across these works, young bodies, queer bodies, and vulnerable bodies stand in for ancestors and kin, staring back at us—in provocation, for permission, and as guidance. The artists in this series ask how we might reconcile with colonial histories, what responsibilities we must uphold, and how we might forge an ancient future.
The title of the series references the closing prayer performed during the Pa’iatua ritual in Mā’ohi Nui, in which sacred atua were wrapped and unwrapped in woven mats to renew their mana. Much like these rituals of veiling and unveiling—transitioning between tapu and noa—the works in A huri i tō mata i te pō invite us to consider how healing from colonial legacies might emerge through layered acts of refusal, repair, and reinvention.
With support from Creative New Zealand.
