Kahurangiariki Smith’s (b.1996 Te Arawa, Tainui, Takitimu, Horouta and Mātaatua) practice explores taniwha as relational presences rather than fixed mythological figures. In this exhibition, taniwha are depicted as forms that emerge in response to emotional intensity, pressure and survival. They act as vessels for feelings that are difficult to hold – grief, fear, anger and endurance – shifting depending on circumstance and perspective. Rather than illustrating one historic taniwha directly, Kahurangiariki treats taniwha as living, adaptive forces that respond to contemporary experiences.

Materiality is central to this exploration. Kahurangiariki employs bedazzled velvet, rhinestones and soft, tactile fabrics, drawing on hyper femme and “Juicy Couture steez” riffing off the popular 1990’s and 2000’s hot-pink and bejewelled velour tracksuits. A multitude of rhinestones glitter starkly against the all-consuming
black velvet. There is an intentional juxtaposition of aesthetic principals, between the bedazzled surface and the patterns they form, which are typically found in whakairo. Often seen as a masculine art form, whakairo depicted in hyper femme velour presents a potentially challenging pairing. These works attract the viewer through sparkle and texture, while simultaneously confronting them with discomfort, rupture and
intensity. Sparkle functions not only as decoration, but as a strategy masking, holding or amplifying what
lies beneath.

The materials Kahurangiariki uses are purposefully accessible and familiar. Rhinestones sourced through everyday online marketplaces, fabrics associated with Juicy Couture serve as a moment of understanding between artist and viewer. These choices resist distinctions between “high” and “low” art materials, asserting that complex emotional and cultural narratives can be carried through materials that are readily available and culturally coded as decorative or excessive. The slow, repetitive labour of bedazzling embeds time, care and endurance into the surface of each work, transforming ornamentation into something weighted and deliberate.

Previously Kahurangiariki had established the taniwha as a nurturing best friend and kai arataki (guide) through a journey of healing. In contrast, this exhibition positions the taniwha as an agent of utu, a concept in Te Ao Māori that that governs cost and reciprocity, and often is associated with revenge. The taniwha thus becomes a proxy capable of holding rage, fear and protective impulse on behalf of the artist, the viewer, and te taiao (the natural world). Violence is externalised and transformed, through the works, allowing it to be confronted, shaped and therefore survived. There is a notedly protective force behind the works – in the same way a taniwha can embody protector and monster, the artworks initially appear as a threat, but belie a promise as well: that all is indeed not right in the world, and we have always had the resources to deal with this.

Throughout Kai a te Taniwha, taniwha remain resistant to singular interpretation. They are neither purely protective nor purely destructive, but shaped by emotion, necessity and viewpoint. By pairing visceral imagery with softness, humour and iridescent abundance, Kahurangiariki creates a visual language in which glamour and brutality, fantasy and survival all coexist. Viewers are invited to sit with contradiction, recognising taniwha as emotional technologies, forms through which complex feelings, both individual & societal, are made visible.

Through this combination of material excess and emotional depth. Kahurangiariki’s practice insists on taniwha as living presences: responsive, contemporary and deeply entangled with the realities of feeling, embodiment and endurance.

Ko te mahi toi a Kahurangiariki Smith (i whānau mai i te tau 1996, nō Te Arawa, Tainui, Takitimu, Horouta me Mātaatua) e tūhura ana i te taniwha hei mea ora, kaua hei mea pohewa noa iho. I tēnei whakaaturanga, ka whakakitea te taniwha hei hanga ka puta ake i te kaha o ngā kare ā-roto, te pēhanga, me te whai kia ora tonu. Ko te taniwha hei waka kawe i ngā kare ā-roto uaua te pupuri, pēnei i te pōuri, te mataku, te riri, me te manawanui, ā, ka huri ēnei i te āhua tonu o te horopaki me te tirohanga. Kāore a Kahurangiariki e whakaahua ana i te hanga o tētahi taniwha kotahi, ka whakaarohia kēhia te taniwha hei mea ora, hei mea kaha e whakahāngaihia ana ki ō te wā nei wheako.

Ko te whakakikotanga te pūtake o tēnei tūhuratanga. Ka whakamahi a Kahurangiariki i te papamōnehu, ngā kōhatu karakara, me ngā papanga ngohengohe, ā, ka whāia ngā āhuatanga tino wahine nei, me te “Juicy Couture steez”, e rite ana ki ngā kahu hākinakina māwhero i whakarākeihia, nō ngā tau 1990 me ngā tau 2000. Kanapa mai ana ngā kōhatu karakara i te papamōnehu pango. Kei te kitea tētahi karapitinga o ngā mātāpono rerehua i waenga i te mata whakarākei me ngā tauira whakairo. I te kitenga o te whakairo hei toi tāne, ka werohia te hinengaro i te kitenga atu e takoto mai ana i te papamōnehu tino wahine nei. Mā te kanapa me te kakano e whakawai te kaimātakitaki ki ngā mahi toi nei, ā, ka pā mai te auhi, te motunga, me te toimahatanga. He whakarākei te mea kanapa, ā, he rautaki huna hoki, hei pupuri, hei whakapiki rānei i ngā mea kei muri e takoto ana.

He māmā te whai, ā, e mōhiotia ana hoki ngā rawa e whakamahia ana e Kahurangiariki. Ka taea te hoko ngā kōhatu karakara i ngā pae ipurangi, ā, ko ngā papanga e pā ana ki a Juicy Couture hei tūtakitanga mō te ringatoi me te kaimātakitaki. Ka whakahē ēnei kōwhiringa i ngā wehenga o te rawa toi “tiketike” me te rawa toi “hahaka”, ā, he whakapūmau i te whakaaro mā ngā rawa whānui, mā ngā rawa whakarākei noa hoki e kawe ngā kōrero hōhonu mō ngā kare ā-roto, me te ahurea. Mā te āta whakapiripiri anō i ngā kōhatu karakara e kitea ai te nui o te wā, te manaaki, me te manawanui i te mata o ia mahi, me te aha, ka huri te whakarākei hei mea taumaha, hei mea whai tikanga hoki.

I mua, i whakatūria e Kahurangiariki te taniwha hei hoa aroha, hei kaiārahi hoki i tētahi haerenga whakaora. I tēnei whakaaturanga, ka huri kē te taniwha hei kanohi mō te utu, ā, he ariā nō te ao Māori e whakahaere ana i te utu me te tauutuutu, ā, e hāngai ana, i te nui o te wā, ki te rānakitanga o te mate. Kua noho te taniwha hei waka pupuri i te riri, te mataku, me te wairua tiaki mō te ringatoi, te kaimātakitaki, me te taiao hoki. Ka panonitia, ka hurihia hoki te haupatu, ā, mā ngā mahi nei e kitea atu ai, e auahatia ai, e ora tonu ai anō hoki.

Kei muri i ēnei mahi tētahi wairua tiaki e noho ana, pēnei i te taniwha ka noho nei hei kaitiaki, hei tipua weriweri hoki, ā, ka puta tuatahi ngā mahi nei hei mea whakamataku, engari kei roto anō he kupu whakatūpato e mea ana, kāore i te tika ngā mea katoa i te ao nei, engari kei a tātou tonu ngā rauemi hei whakatikatika i tēnei.

I Kai a te Taniwha, kāore te taniwha e herea ki tētahi whakamāramatanga kotahi. Kāore te taniwha e tiaki kau, e turaki kau rānei i te aha noa iho, engari ka auahatia mai te taniwha e ngā kare ā-roto, te hiahiatanga, me te tirohanga. Mā te whakakotahi i ngā whakaahua kiko me te ngāwaritanga, te pukuhohe, me te nui o te kanapa e rite mai ai i a Kahurangiariki tētahi reo ataata e noho tahi ai te waiwaiā, te ngākau whakawiri, te pohewatanga, me te oranga tonutanga. Ka tonoa te kaimātakitaki kia aro ki ēnei taupatupatu, kia kitea ai te taniwha hei hanga kare ā-roto, hei āhuatanga e kitea ai ngā kare ā-roto uaua o te takitahi, o te hapori anō hoki.

Mā tēnei whakakotahitanga o ngā rawa maha, o tēnei hōhonutanga hoki o ngā kare ā-roto, ka whakaū a Kahurangiariki i te whakaaro, e ora ana te taniwha, arā, he mea urupare, nō nāianei, ā, he mea e hono pū ana ki te whakatinanatanga o ngā kare ā-roto, o te wheako, me te manawanui

Nā Hēmi Kelly i whakamāori
He mea rauhī nā  Hōhua Thompson
Curated by Hōhua Thompson