Matariki looks both to the past and to the future. It is a time to acknowledge the year that has passed, to mourn and remember the names of those we have lost, and to celebrate the new beginnings that the coming year represents.
This waka is meant as an offering both to Rangi-nui and to Taramainuku, who casts his net from Te Waka o Rangi to collect the souls of those who have passed and release them into the sky as stars. Ovalle is embracing the use of pounamu and the traditions surrounding Matariki as a process of healing, to reconcile the tragedy and violence of his past in Colombia with the new life he has built in Aotearoa.
Many who have died and will die in Colombia’s history of corruption and drug trafficking are forgotten or unaccounted for by the Colombian government and international media. This act of offering comes from Ovalle’s own cultural traditions, and is his way of thanking Taramainuku for remembering those people.
Ovalle’s hand carved pounamu Te Waka o Rangi (work in progress)
