LISSY ROBINSON-COLE (Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Kahu) and RUDI ROBINSON-COLE (Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāruahine, Ngāti Makirangi, Ngāti Tu, Te Arawa) are a husband-and-wife team whose artworks explore mātauranga Māori and personal whakapapa through crocheted woollen sculpture.
Their exhibition title, ‘E Te Tau’ translates as ‘My Darling’.
To date the artists’ largest and most ambitious project has been ‘Wharenui Harikoa’ (House of Joy), a full-size crocheted whare whakairo (carved meeting house) created in collaboration with whanau, community and international textile artists.
The ‘Wharenui Harikoa’ project has been presented in two partial iterations – at Objectspace (Auckland) in May 2022 and at the Dowse Art Museum (Wellington) in October 2022 – but will be seen for the first time in its fully complete form at Waikato Museum in late 2023.
In the meantime, as ‘Wharenui Harikoa’ awaits its grand unveiling, TMG is proud to present a suite of three large-scale photographs of the whare’s poupou (interior wall panels) created in collaboration with photographer Sam Hartnett, and eleven carved and crocheted wheku (carved faces) … artworks which will help maintain the project’s joyous momentum!
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole’s work is accessible to anyone, whatever their whakapapa.
“Often non-Māori wonder how to access Māori art”, says Rudi. “They may feel intimidated or cautious about over-stepping boundaries. But our soft woollen medium helps them to relate more easily and it opens up some of those conversations.
“For Māori, as well, it brings back those nostalgic feelings of being safe under a blanket that Nanny has made. You hear that kōrero too.
“Through crochet we have come to understand the symbolism of connecting ‘loops’ and how the loops reflect the complex relationships we have with ourselves and others, and to the past, present and future.”
Lissy describes crochet as “a portal of joy. We see ourselves as a prism in which the aroha of our tūpuna shines through us and is expressed in our own unique ways – like the spectrum of the rainbow. As their aroha radiates through us it is reflected back to us by the light and aroha of our communities. Our practice is grounded in one central kaupapa; to transform intergenerational trauma into deeply felt joy, one loop at a time.”
In 1927 the American poet Max Ehrmann gently suggested that “with all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.” Lissy and Rudi Robinson-Cole’s life-affirming energy crosses cultures – connecting us to one another – and their message is the same.
Mauri ora!
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Install view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Waipunarangi (in collaboration with Nigel Borell)
2023
inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
1530mm H x 1030mm W (frame)
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Tupuārangi (in collaboration with Linda Munn)
2023
inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
1530mm H x 1030mm W (frame)
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Waitā (in collaboration with Rewi McClay)
2023
inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
1530mm H x 1030mm W (frame)
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Ao Marama ki te Ahuru
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Ao Marama ki te Ahuru
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Tūmanako ki te Kore
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Tūmanako ki te Kore
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Te Whitinga o te Rā
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Te Whitinga o te Rā
2023
New Zealand Wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Paki ki te Harikoa
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
COLLECTION OF WAIKATO MUSEUM
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Paki ki te Harikoa
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
COLLECTION OF WAIKATO MUSEUM
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Taumata ki te Tai Tokerau
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Taumata ki te Tai Tokerau
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Waimarie ki te Tai Rawhiti
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Waimarie ki te Tai Rawhiti
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Turanga ki te Hauāuru
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Turanga ki te Hauāuru
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Harikoa ki te Tai Tonga
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Harikoa ki te Tai Tonga
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
E Te Tau
2023
Installation view
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Te Pupuke / The Increase
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Te Pupuke / The Increase
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Te Mahara / The Remembrance
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Te Mahara / The Remembrance
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Te Hihiri / The Thought
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Lissy & Rudi Robinson-Cole
Te Hihiri / The Thought
2023
New Zealand wool, polystyrene
500mm H x 400mm W x 170mm D
PRIVATE COLLECTION