Mākū: Te Ha O Haupapa (2024)

3 min 16 secSingle channel / Digital Video / Colour / Sound

Tiny bubbles of ancient breath and atmosphere are pressed inside Haupapa (Tasman) glacier's ice archive—including sea breezes, pollens, carbon dioxide, and methane, as well as the ash of Australian bush fires. We collectively attune to the glacier through Kai Tahu cosmologies, instruments of science including audio hydrophones and underwater camera receivers, and more-than-human scales of aural and visual perception. Mākū (moisture) is the originary elemental being. The accelerating change of state of Haupapa glacier into the grainy liquid expanse of Haupapa awa, the lake below, is a highly visible indicator of climate catastrophe.

This work first appeared as a non-linear, weather-driven edit by live data, as an installation, and is now presented as a video for the first time.

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