CIRCUIT's 2024 Matariki Commission supports an emerging Māori woman artist to make a new work. This year, CIRCUIT is pleased to present Mānawatia te Whenua, Mānawatia te Tangata (2024), a new film by Antonia van Sitter (Te Māhurehure, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Whakaue). The work is CIRCUIT’s fifth annual Matariki commission for Masons Screen in Pōneke, and runs from 23 July to 2 September 2024. The commission is curated by CIRCUIT’s Kaitiaki Kiriata Tanya Te Miringa Te Rorarangi Ruka (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pakau and Waitaha).
About the artist
Antonia van Sitter (Te Māhurehure, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Whakaue) has recently completed a Masters in Architecture reimagining the practice with indigenous methodologies. She is currently working for GHA, a kaupapa Māori-led consultancy firm focusing on community resilience for Iwi Māori. Mānawatia te Whenua, Mānawatia te Tangata (2024) is her first moving image work.
About the work
Mānawatia te Whenua, Mānawatia te Tangata: if the whenua and the surrounding environments flourish, so too will the people.
E huri ō pūkanohi ki ō tūpareparehua, ki ō wai-kaukau, ki ō whenua tāngaengae hei oranga motuhenga mōu, mō ngā whakareanga ā-haere ake nei: turn your eyes to your mountains, your bathing waters, your land, as sources of sustenance.
In Mānawatia te Whenua, Mānawatia te Tangata, Antonia van Sitter returns home to Manupirua Bay on the edge of Lake Rotoiti, where her whānau are the kaitiaki of the area’s natural geothermal springs. The springs exist as living entities, belonging to and connecting with both the land and the people, and are the last place mana whenua pass through before their journey to Reinga. Footage shot on the lake is overlaid with drawings that reflect van Sitter’s perception of the intangible qualities of Māoritanga: the embodied experiences of wairua, mauri, whakapapa, tikanga, kawa, tapu, noa, and karakia, as held between Papatūānuku and Ranginui. These drawings also contain fragments of pūrākau that speak of the formation and spiritual significance of the lakes. In the background, the work incorporates scenes from the short film Ahī Ka (2013), directed by Richard Curtis and filmed on Lake Rotoiti, which extend the ideas of continuous occupation inherent in ahi kā (the burning of fires) to the ongoing presence and importance of wairua, atua, and taniwha in Te Ao Māori.
Credits:
Ahi Kā has been gifted for use by Piripi Curtis and Tihini Grant on behalf of Steambox Film Collective. Voiceover by the late Sir Toby Curtis, KNZM, PhD. Acting by Christine Edwards.
Acknowledgement to Ngāti Rongomai, Ngāti Pikiao, and the Manupirua Ahu Whenua Trust.
Completed with the assistance of Tanya Ruka and Simon Ray.
Commissioned by CIRCUIT and curated by Tanya Ruka.
Antonia's work will also become part of the touring programme Rematriation.
