Erena Baker, Rama Tuna #3
Erena Baker
Te Atiawa ki Whakarongotai / Ngati Toa Rangatira / Ngati Raukawa / Ngati Ruanui
Alternative Name
Erena Arapere
Date
2006
Medium Specific
Photograph
Classification
Photograph
Dimensions
12 x 18 in. (30.5 x 45.7 cm)
Sheet: 17 1/4 x 21 1/4 in. (43.8 x 54 cm)
Sheet: 17 1/4 x 21 1/4 in. (43.8 x 54 cm)
Accession Number
2006.20.10.39
Credit
Gift of the artist
Memo / Artist Statement
I believe the photographic image is the most important innovation in history for memorialising a loved one. No invention captures the essence of a person with such precision and manifests their memory in a physical object. Photographs speak across time and place to create an emotional bond between subject and viewer.
My artistic practice is grounded in a Māori commemorative paradigm. I aim to address the historical relationship between Māori and photography and the ways that Māori reacted to,
and then appropriated the display of ancestral portraiture as a critical ceremonial practice.
Taking into account the historical and contemporary issues relative to Māori photography, my works involve a physical engagement with the notion of mauri, the gaze, gender representation, and commemorative strategies.
(http://erenabaker.blogspot.com/p/about.html, 2020)
My artistic practice is grounded in a Māori commemorative paradigm. I aim to address the historical relationship between Māori and photography and the ways that Māori reacted to,
and then appropriated the display of ancestral portraiture as a critical ceremonial practice.
Taking into account the historical and contemporary issues relative to Māori photography, my works involve a physical engagement with the notion of mauri, the gaze, gender representation, and commemorative strategies.
(http://erenabaker.blogspot.com/p/about.html, 2020)
Biography
Masters of Māori Visual Arts (First class Honours) - Massey University 2009