Karanga (2017)

"To karanga is to call, call in the ancestors, call in the people. To karanga is to connect, locate in place and time, to exchange and to ground. A karanga can be visualised like an unbroken rope, the breath is constant, it activates the spaces between past, present and future, binding them all in one moment, it grows stronger with each layer and contribution. This metaphor is mirrored in the structure of our DNA, and how it too stretches beyond us both into the past and into the future. To karanga is to take this unbroken rope, wield it to connect, to bind, to ground, to call us home. Karanga is an immersive multi-media work playing on these motifs, of the call and the unbroken rope. It seeks to provide a touchstone, a turangawaewae / place of grounding for those children of the diaspora, in particular the diasporas of Aotearoa and Moana Nui a Kiwa, who have settled in Australia. The act of migration can be an act of re-colonisation and assimilation, as the waves take us further from our source and we have to adapt. Sometimes the memory of home becomes faded, sometimes the links feel severed. Karanga is about reaffirming those links, that your ancestors are always with you, you are always home. Karanga has been contributed by a collective of Mana Wahine from Aotearoa, resulting in a collaborative audio-visual work that brings pieces of Aotearoa and Moana Nui a Kiwa to Australia. It invites the viewer to stand between the two heads, experience the back and forth of their calling. The base foundation of the soundscape is structured around Jamie Berry’s DNA, the chromosome sequences coded to natural elements and indigenous instruments that she whakapapa back too. The sound of the ancestors being present gives a direct connection to wairua (spirit), to the past, present and future, and a sound platform for the other audio contributions to be layered and remixed upon. The visual content is a collaborative narrative of acknowledgement of the past, our tupuna (ancestors), of fully being in the present and utilising what is now, and grounding seeds for our future DNA holders, as well as bringing landscapes and visuals from home. Through all these layers, a virtual call is created, a virtual turangawaewae is made... a home away from home, a place to be and remember, connect and ground."