Ruth Buchanan at Te Papa Tongarewa: Priorities, whakapapa / Or, Door, window, world…
Kaitohu Director and artist Ruth Buchanan’s exhibition Priorities, whakapapa / Or, Door, window, world is now open at Te Papa Tongarewa.
“Ruth’s project pulls from her ‘library’ of textile work made over the last decade, bringing her practice into conversation with the architecture of Te Papa and the museum’s site on Te Aro pā, which Ruth descends from. The many fabric layers of the installation recall layers of whakapapa, connecting people, practice, site, and history. I admire the way Priorities, whakapapa / Or, Door, window, world… lets the outside world in to the galleries, and it’s been lovely to see the work changing with the longer days, casting a soft light through the windows into the evening.” – Curator Hanahiva Rose Curator Contemporary Art at Te Papa
“In parallel to considering language through the programme at Artspace Aotearoa I’ve been able to think through its structural power in the commission I realised at Te Papa. Te Papa sits in the heart of Te Aro Pā where my whānau have maintained an active and constant relationship since it was first established. In the work I’ve honed in on two words, whakapapa and continuity and how these may provide practical, poetic, and political frameworks for me as a contemporary artist working today.” – Ruth Buchanan