This is not a Painting brings together the different but related organic practices of Māori uku (clay), Niuean hiapo (bark-cloth) and Aboriginal ochre painting.
The rich ochre works from WARMUN in Western Australia, by Gija artists who “paint their country with their country”, will be familiar to TMG audiences, however the uku ceramics of Tracy Keith and the hiapo works of Cora-Allan may be less so.
CORA-ALLAN LAFAIKI TWISS (Ngāpuhi, Tainui/Alofi, Liku) is a visual artist and traditional maker.
Since being encouraged by her Niuean grandparents to make hiapo – the Niuean practice of barkcloth painting – she has been mobilising a new generation of Niueans to connect with and to experience a previously dormant art-form.
Cora-Allan moves fluidly between institutional and community spaces, and in her use of materials including ata bark, mangrove inks and pandanus seeds her work highlights the characteristic botanical forms of Niuean Hiapo.
Cora-Allan completed a Masters in Visual Art and Design at AUT. Her works are held in major collections including Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland War Memorial Museum and London’s Royal Academy of Arts. She was the recipient of a 2021 Arts Foundation Springboard award and, the same year, a prestigious McCahon House Residency.
TRACY KEITH (Ngāpuhi) has described his sculptural vessels as “an attempt to create abstracted forms that evoke something ancient and timeless.”
Born and raised in Tokoroa, the centre of Aotearoa’s timber pulp and paper industry, Keith characterises his raku ceramic practice as evoking “the weathered and layered structures of the whenua and the impact of human activity and industry upon it.”
“They are the energy of the earth and I want my vessels to look as though they were pulled from the earth.”
“People don’t always live by their tūrangawaewae because they follow work. This can lead to the deterioration of culture but the whakapapa of industry is in our blood.”
Keith gained an MFA from Auckland’s Whitecliffe College of Art and Design. He lives and works in Havelock North.
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view
TRACY KEITH
Te Pō / The Darkness
2022
raku-fired ceramic
180mm H x 300mm Dia
TRACY KEITH
Te Pō / The Darkness
2022
raku-fired ceramic (detail)
180mm H x 300mm Dia
PHYLLIS THOMAS
Gemerre
2014
natural ochre and pigments on canvas
500mm H x 1400mm W
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view
SADE CARRINGTON
Untitled
2022
natural ochre and pigments on canvas
600mm H x 600mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
TATUM RIVERS
Ant Hills
2022
natural ochre and pigments on canvas
600mm H x 600mm W
CORA-ALLAN
At the Bottom of the Forest Floor
2023
kāpia ink on Hiapo
710mm H x 675mm W (frame)
CORA-ALLAN
After the Misty Morning
2023
kāpia ink on Hiapo
450mm H x 445mm W
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view
CORA-ALLAN
Along the Path of the Tautu Sea Track
2023
kāpia ink on Hiapo
400mm H x 465mm W
CORA-ALLAN
After the Sunset their Fragrance is Released
2023
kāpia ink on Hiapo
460mm H x 455mm W
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view
CORA-ALLAN
At the Time of Harvest
2023
Kāpia ink on Hiapo
440mm H x 435mm W
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view
TRACEY RAMSAY
Black Hill
2021
natural pigments and ochre on canvas
1000mm H x 1200mm W
TRACEY RAMSAY
Black Hill
2021
natural pigments and ochre on canvas (detail)
1000mm H x 1200mm W
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view
TRACY KEITH
The Incantations of Hinetītama
2023
raku-fired ceramic
210mm H x 350mm Dia
TRACY KEITH
The Incantations of Hinetītama
2023
raku-fired ceramic (detail)
210mm H X 350mm Dia
TRACY KEITH
Te Ao; The Broken Light 2
2023
raku-fired ceramic
285mm H x 320mm Dia
TRACY KEITH
Te Ao; The Broken Light 2
2023
raku-fired ceramic (detail)
285mm H x 320mm Dia
TRACY KEITH
Te Kore; The Great Nothingness
2023
raku-fired ceramic
220mm H x 300mm Dia
TRACY KEITH
Te Kore; The Great Nothingness
2023
raku-fired ceramic (detail)
220mm H x 300 Dia
MABEL JULI
MABEL JULI, Rock Hole at Darrajayin (Springvale Station)
2016
natural ochre and pigment on canvas
450mm H x 450mm W
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view
DAVID COX
Dark Emu
2020
natural ochre and pigments on canvas
1000mm H x 1400mm W
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view
TRACY KEITH
Te Ao; The Broken Light
2023
raku-fired ceramic
230mm H x 280mm Dia
TRACY KEITH
Te Ao; The Broken Light
2023
raku-fired ceramic (detail)
230mm H x 280mm Dia
TRACY KEITH
Cluster Formation
2023
raku-fired ceramic
200mm H x 280mm Dia
TRACY KEITH
Cluster Formation
2023
raku-fired ceramic (detail)
200mm H x 280mm Dia
TRACY KEITH
Te Mauri o Tāne; The Spirit of Tāne
2023
raku-fired ceramic
280mm H x 360mm W x 230mm D
TRACY KEITH
Te Mauri o Tāne; The Spirit of Tāne
2023
raku-fired ceramic (detail)
280mm H x 360mm W x 230mm D
GABRIEL NODEA
Dreamtime Flashback, Kija Country - Ngarrangunti
2007
natural ochre and pigment on canvas
900mm H x 1200mm W
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view
TRACY KEITH
Te Whero; the separation that caused blood to flow
2023
raku-fired ceramic
275mm H x 330mm W x 160mm D
TRACY KEITH
Te Whero; the separation that caused blood to flow
2023
raku-fired ceramic (detail)
275mm H x 330mm W x 160mm D
TRACY KEITH
The Deep Waters of Papatūānuku
2022
raku-fired ceramic
280mm H x 430mm W x 200mm D
TRACY KEITH
The Deep Waters of Papatūānuku
2022
raku-fired ceramic (detail)
280mm H x 430mm W x 200mm D
TRACY KEITH
Ao Mārama; world of life and light
2023
raku-fired ceramic
180mm H x 220mm Dia
PRIVATE COLLECTION
TRACY KEITH
Ao Mārama; world of life and light
2023
raku-fired ceramic (detail)
180mm H x 220mm Dia
PRIVATE COLLECTION
TRACY KEITH
Atatū; just after sunrise
2023
raku-fired ceramic (detail)
165mm H x 210mm W x 100mm D
PRIVATE COLLECTION
TRACY KEITH
Atatū; just after sunrise
2023
raku-fired ceramic
165mm H x 210mm W x 100mm D
PRIVATE COLLECTION
This is not a Painting
2023
Installation view