I discuss recent work of Wanganui-based photographer Tia Ranginui (Ngāti Hine Oneone) in issue 96 (Autumn 2021) of Art Collector magazine.
Excerpt below:
Tia Ranginui (Ngāti Hine Oneone) was raised on the banks of the Whanganui River where she resides today. Ranginui is a self-trained artist and works full-time as a Gallery Assistant between two galleries in Whanganui.
Ranginui’s Turangawaewae (spiritual homeland, place to stand) features prominently in her work, and provides a rich, historically layered and often spooky backdrop to her diverse photographic explorations. Bodies of water provide an ongoing source of inspiration and reflection, and act as sites upon which to both capture and stage photographs. Naturally, water in its many forms features as a recurring motif in her work, whether it is the Whanganui River itself, or more oblique and intuitive references such as pools or mist. She has also collaborated and exhibited with artist Conor Clarke in projects addressing water and its diverse array of historical and contemporary uses and meanings.
Ranginui also critiques the way Māori have been (mis)represented in New Zealand art and imagery in a post-colonial context. Early works such as Wealth and Power, from the series The Intellectual Wealth of the Savage Mind (2015), both speak to and subvert stereotypes of Māori perpetuated in mainstream New Zealand culture…
