Tracey Tawhiao: The Star in Us

Tracey Tawhiao, The Star in Us. 3 metres tall x 150 cm wide hung.

Tracey Tawhiao (Ngai te Rangi, Whakatohea, Tuwharetoa) was born in 1967. She is a multi-skilled contemporary artist who has studied and worked in a variety of fields. She is a writer, performance poet, filmmaker, qualified lawyer and practising artist. Her artworks convey the breadth of her experience and her position as a Maori woman in a European-dominated society.

Tawhiao’s work The Star in Us is a dazzling and formidable piece, composed of a collage of paintings on canvas and mirror of a five point star in flight. It is exhibited at Manzana in three different parts - the canvasses line our walls and the mirror hangs separately.

“We whakapapa to the Stars by a Star inside us. The light of our eternal being. Matariki is our whanau by whakapapa, by blood. It’s cellular. It’s the nothingness too. The place of our potential and where Stars are also born. We see a shining glittering light in the night. Then it’s a live with millions of lights. Like a wave this light can be seen then not seen. It’s visibility a beautiful affair. It’s patterns, changing, but staying the same. A teacher. The same Stars lead our tupuna on waka to meet people and places. A leader. Over vast seas these Stars were followed by Star navigators, holding close to the Star inside them. A great inspiration.  This is my portrait of the Star inside us.”

Detail of the mirror from The Star in Us, as exhibited at Manzana.

The Star in Us is currently for sale. Email us for more info: kaitiaki@manzana.org.nz