"Waimāori is a collaborative multi-media installation piece by Jamie Berry and Pikihuia Haenga, in which wai / water is the central element. The work encompasses deep ritual and preparation, audio soundscapes and visual projection, layered over the installation of wai / water. What results is the purposeful creation of a healing space in which the wai acts as a conduit for us to connect with and heal ourselves, and our wider environment. Water is life.
In Te Ao Maori, wai/water is the essence of life, the blood of Papatūānuku. It is a vital element of our being and bodies, and this is mirrored in its importance in our environment. The artists have taken these concepts of wai/water, its fundamental importance, it’s ability to herald all that is good or bad as it absorbs what’s around it and transforms with it, and it’s reflective and amplifying nature, and woven them into a work that invites us to tune into the water and what it is telling us, invoking our role as kaitiaki, invoking a chance to have healing exchanges with the water and the work.
The artist’s engaged rite and process, collecting water samples from around the rohe that they then imbued with positivity and love through daily rituals at purpose-built altars. These rituals continue within the gallery space, and the audience are invited to participate and contribute their own energies and vibrations.
The process was inspired by the work of Dr. Masaru Emoto, with the intention of returning the wai/water to its original source, revitalised, potentiated and with it’s mauri restored and positive. This reverence and ritual is an intuitive reconnection with the ways of our tipuna, who lived and breathed their roles as kaitiaki and treated our wai/water with the utmost aroha and respect.
The soundscape is crafted using Jamie Berry’s DNA sequence as it’s framework, reminding us that we are the water, and the water is us. We are, after all, at least 60% water. Also used were a collection of karakia and messages of gratitude, protection and love from tangata whenua around the motu. A layer of nature surroundings and meditative audio."
water is life
I am the water the water is me
in the water we see the circle of being, past present future,
tīpuna chanting truths to us, future generations urging us to remember,
read it all in the molecules, the particles and the waves,
the vibrations call us out, call us in
in the water we see reflections of ourselves
the water is a conduit, the worlds both seen and unseen dance on its surfaces and in its
depths, touching at the edges
spirits rest within it,
the water locates us, calls us in home
Papatūānuku’s blood flows over the land, through the earth, above and below
Papatūānuku’s blood flows through our bodies, activating every process for life,
the water binds us and makes us whole, sentient
the water binds us to every living thing in our shared need for it,
connected through the thirst of our throats, our roots, our tissues and cells
dry bodies, dry land, civilisations to dust without it
the water is a barometer, what's wrong with it is wrong with us, we taint it with our tainted
ways, or
heal it with our loving vibrations, good intentions, full hearts
returned to the source to magnify it’s renewed energy.
