Elemental matter _{by Isabella Smith}

Wind-ravaged, powerful, and all-consuming Te Waewae Bay stretches 27 kilometres along the southwest coast of Te Waipounamu. Here, artist Michelle Tahuaroa Dawson (Te Ātiawa o Te Tau Ihu o te waka a Māui) scours the seashore collecting hinewaiapu, igneous granite rocks that have been shaped into smooth, spherical orbs over thousands of years, grinding together as they’re driven shoreward by Antarctic tides.

“I am fascinated by the powerful forces that shape these pieces… and by the idea that the friction created when abrading against one another can create something quite beautiful”, Michelle says. “I see parallels for humanity.”

Michelle then encases the hinewaiapu in woven harakeke anchor-like structures to become a collective, “likened to a whānau and reminiscent of the foundation that a loving family can give its members.”

Accompanying the hinewaiapu are a series of acrylic and mixed-media paintings depicting the remote, untamed coastlines of Te Waewae Bay and the nearby Awarua-Waituna Wetlands and Waipapa Point. “The raw and visceral beauty of isolated coastal regions reminds me that we are small and temporary beings playing our part in the infinite and, as such, our contribution and existence is precious”, she says.

Michelle’s paintings capture how it feels to stand in one of these remote landscapes. “I see shapes in the land and sea and tend to exaggerate them in my acrylic works.”

Hinewaiapu – Deep South Rock is exhibiting at Pātaka Art + Museum until the 7^th of June. The works are recognition of our deep connection to the land, to our coastlines, and of the need to preserve these sacred places and be kaitiaki for future generations. They remind us that we are all made from the same elemental matter.