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Arts | <strong>Magazine</strong> 71<br />
MADISON KELLY<br />
Ōtepoti-based artist Madison Kelly (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe,<br />
Pākehā) has created a glass instrument, drawings on fishing<br />
mesh and an immersive sound work for the exhibition Spring<br />
Time is Heart-break.<br />
The project is based around the kakī (black stilt), an endemic<br />
wading bird and taoka (treasured) species. Despite once being<br />
distributed widely across the country, they are now limited<br />
to the Mackenzie Basin and critically threatened by predation,<br />
habitat loss and human disturbance.<br />
The Kakī Recovery Programme raises chicks in captivity for<br />
release into the wild. Upon release, the young birds and their<br />
wild relatives can be heard calling and responding to each other,<br />
like the karaka of a pōhiri.<br />
Visitors are called into the gallery with sounds of the Tasman<br />
River and field recordings of the kakī, including some gifted from<br />
the Department of Conservation. Madison had a series of glass<br />
vessels handmade to create a percussive instrument and invites<br />
visitors to gently play this in response to the drawings and<br />
audio, reflecting the idea of call and response.<br />
Ecological kinship and kāitahutaka are foundational for<br />
Madison’s practice, with processes of observation, drawing,<br />
sound and interactivity used to bring awareness to multispecies<br />
concerns and human/non-human relationships.<br />
There are significant meanings in the title, ‘Tohu! Karaka!<br />
Braid!’ (2023). Tohu means sign and karaka, a call, while<br />
tohu karaka is an exclamation mark. The final prompt in the<br />
work’s title, braid, pulls rivers, their braidplains and acts of<br />
interweaving into focus. Playing on language, Madison brings<br />
our attention to the urgency of conservation with a call to<br />
action for kakī and our waterways, encouraging us to take<br />
responsibility through participation.<br />
“Visitors are called into the gallery<br />
with sounds of the Tasman River<br />
and field recordings of the kakī,<br />
including some gifted from the<br />
Department of Conservation.”<br />
Spring Time is Heart-break: Contemporary Art in Aotearoa,<br />
Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, until May 19, <strong>2024</strong>.<br />
Step inside for<br />
a sensory filled<br />
experience.<br />
JANIE PORTER AND JANE McCULLA<br />
PARALLEL UNIVERSE<br />
01 <strong>February</strong> -26 <strong>February</strong> <strong>2024</strong> OPENING EVENT <strong>03</strong> <strong>February</strong> 11am<br />
<strong>03</strong> 325 1944 - littlerivergallery.com<br />
art@littlerivergallery.com - Main Rd, Little River 7591<br />
100 Fendalton Road, Fendalton, Christchurch | jennyburtt.co.nz
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