Where light and footsteps fold
26 November 2022 - ongoing
a two-part, site-responsive mural commission
The Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki (CoCA)
Ōtautahi, Christchurch
Aotearoa, NZ
Where light and footsteps fold, 2022. Preparatory digital drawing.
Inside mural installation view. Photo credit Mikayla Hubert.
Outside mural installation view. Photo credit John Collie.
Outside mural details. Photo credit John Collie.
Inside mural installation view. Photo credit John Collie.
Inside mural detail. Photo credit John Collie.
Two walls, one on the exterior of the building and the other inside Lux Cafe, weave together observations of the artist’s ancestral awa in Waitaha Canterbury with playful design elements that speak to layers of place-making and whakapapa.
One of the starting points for this work is a sketch of the Rakahuri Ashley River by the artist’s uncle. North of Christchurch City, Rakahuri is one of the numerous rivers that flow into Te Tai o Maahunui Pegasus Bay. Rakahuri forms the basis for a repeating design on the exterior of the building where the tributaries of a braided river become abstracted, resembling other connected living things like tree branches or veins. They are offset by bands of colour that look like large paint swatches.
The second part of the design, inside Lux Espresso, uses colour to embody the action of weaving different things together. The artist has selected colours based on their names or significance to the gallery building and site—from “Hoki”, a verb which means to go back, or return (a blue-grey); to “Bilbao”, a bright green that colour matches CoCA gallery’s original modernist lampshades; the dark brown “Espresso”; and “Canterbury Clay” (tan), “Bone” (light brown); and “Triple Rakaia” (a warm grey), which each speak to the geomorphology and histories of occupation in Waitaha.
Connecting the seen and unseen, Where light and footsteps fold explores the different intersections of the building—gallery, cafe, museum—and the whenua and histories upon which it stands in this part of the world.
- Sophie Davis
Outside mural installation view. Photo credit: Mikayla Hubert.
Outside mural details. Photo credit John Collie.
Outside mural installation view. Photo credit Mikayla Hubert.
Inside mural details. Photo credit John Collie.
Inside mural installation view. Photo credit John Collie.
Inside mural detail. Photo credit John Collie.
Outside mural installation view. Photo credit Mikayla Hubert.
︎︎︎ Back