KAKAHU HAU: Breath of Cloth, Exploring the holistic essence of cloth, performance, and the lens through prescribed threads to which weave a braided universe of our ‘Primordial Beings’.

Bobby Luke (Ngāti Ruanui, Ngaruahine, Taranaki Iwi Nui), Auckland University of Technology

This research explores the potential for interdisciplinary-based multimedia, performance, and Fashion design investigations to perform as knowledge repositories. The project aims to restore & revitalize understandings of a Taranaki cosmological worldview that can inform and enhance knowledge exchange through art and design research. 

Moreover, an overview and role of ‘Rongo’ (cosmological deity representing the god of cultivation and peace) and how ‘Rongo’ as an entity can better enhance an understanding of creative design/art practices is explored. From this perspective, the project aims at providing Māori and non-­‐Māori appropriate ways of developing creative methods using holistic cultural frameworks. But more specifically, ‘Taku Taranakitanga’ becomes the overarching perspective of this project and aims to position this research from a Taranaki, Ngāti Ruanui, Hāmua, Hāpotiki, and Taiporohenui Pā worldview. 

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

• How can notions of a personified deity, ‘Rongo’ and ‘Rongo’ attributes communicated through whakapapa and propositional knowledge1 become a vehicle and method for an interdisciplinary art practice?

• How might cinematic multimedia, performance, sound components, and Fashion making as a collective practice enhance a contemporary relationship with Taranaki Taonga?

• What are the ethical and respectful methodologies of re-­‐presentation of Toi Taonga? To avoid misrepresentation and exploitation of its traditional output.