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  • May 14, 2021

Expanded Realm: Weekly News Roundup

Portrait of REUBEN PATERSON. Photo by Jennifer French. Courtesy Auckland Art Gallery Toi o T

On June 17, New Zealand artist Reuben Paterson (Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāi Tūhoe, Tūhourangi) will reveal a crystal waka (canoe) sculpture at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Commissioned by the Gallery and Edmiston Trust, the ten-meter high sculpture comprises 611 iridescent crystals. It will hover above the Gallery’s forecourt pool, casting a galaxy of refracted light, and creating a bridge from Papatūānuku (mother earth) to Ranginui (heaven). Paterson drew inspiration from the folktale of a phantom waka that emerged at Mount Tarawera ten days before it erupted in 1886. His work will welcome visitors and “complete the entrance to our much loved Gallery,” said director Kirsten Lacy.

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