Lisa Reihana

Māori artist Lisa Reihana (Ngaa Puhi, Ngati Hine and Ngai TuReihana) was born in 1964 in Aotearoa New Zealand and currently lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Reihana is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice spans film, sculpture, costume and body adornment, text and photography.² Reihana’s work engages with issues of colonisation, gender and representations of First Peoples across media. She often looks at how stories are told and histories that have been overlooked, weaving mātauranga Māori (most commonly translated as Māori knowledge)³ through her technically ambitious and poetically nuanced work. Her artmaking is driven by a strong connection to community which informs her collaborative approach, grounded in working kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face).⁴

Lisa Reihana’s photographs Mahuika, Marakihau and Kurangaituku, 2001 are part of her major ongoing project Digital Marae, inaugurated in 1995.⁶ In Māori culture, a marae is a sacred communal space that is of huge importance to cultural identity. As Reihana describes, ‘within these kinds of spaces we would gather to spend time together, to debate, to laugh, to cry, to sing, to share information and knowledge.’⁷ During colonisation and forced conversions to Christianity, many marae became disused. Despite these challenges, they remain pivotal to culture and are ever evolving, as Reihana conveys through her works of art.

Reihana’s life-size photographs are her contemporary take on pouwhenua, the wooden carvings found lining the interior of the wharenui or meeting house.⁸ In both subject and process, her work questions traditions, expectations, and social structures.

Historically, pouwhenua carvings mostly represented male ancestors, however Reihana’s photographs highlight the presence of women and the importance of matriarchy. For example, where ancestors like Mahuika and Marakihau, have sometimes been described as male, Reihana made the deliberate choice to represent them as female.¹⁰ By expanding upon tradition and mythology, Reihana expresses her desire for a more socially aware and inclusive marae.

Through her innovative use of 21st century technologies and aesthetics, Reihana offers new representations of Māori ancestral figures that convey the complex narratives of Māori mythology to make it accessible to global audiences.¹²

Provocations

• Read the quotes from Lisa Reihana and jot down key words related to the themes and intent of her work.
• Spend a minute quietly looking at Reihana’s photographs Mahuika, Marakihau and Kurangaituku. How would you describe your initial response to this work of art?
  
  
• Take a closer look at Marakihau style carving, the Soul II Soul Club Classics album cover, and the Marcel Breuer chair. What are some of the connections and differences between Reihana’s photographs and her points of reference? What might these references say about Reihana’s interests and approach to artmaking?
• When Reihana speaks about her work in terms of ‘contemporising’, what does she mean? Why do you think ‘contemporising’ is important? Watch the video ‘Global Feminisms: Lisa Reihana’ for further insights.

• Reihana says she ‘seized upon 21st-century technologies because they sit outside traditional rules.’¹⁴ In what ways does Reihana challenge tradition and why?
• Investigate examples of restrictions placed on artmaking styles or mediums in other cultures. How have artists navigated these restrictions? How have these restrictions changed over time? For example, you could look at Dhaynagwidh/Thaynakwith artist Thanakupi’s use of clay, or the past exclusion of women from life drawing classes at the British Royal Academy.¹⁵

Artmaking prompts

• Reflect on the communal spaces that are important to your identity or sense of belonging. Consider the spaces, actual or virtual, where you gather to spend time with your friends, family or community. Discuss your thoughts with a partner.
• Write or draw the physical and psychological features or conditions that you think are important in communal spaces. Consider what experiences and feelings you would like that space to foster and how these might be achieved, for example, safety, belonging, connection, sharing.
• Design a concept for a work of art that expands ideas about what communal spaces might look like, and where they might exist. Create a plan or scale model to communicate your concept.
• Share your concepts with your class. Discuss how you imagine people would interact with the space and how the space might encourage people to interact with each other.
• Has your class generated an idea that you could work collaboratively to realise as an actual or virtual space? How and where might you go about this process? Is there anyone that would be helpful to involve or consult