Engaging the architecture of warfare on the colonial frontier with the language of war memorials in times of peace, Tai Moana Tai Tangata commemorates historical events that saw Taranaki and Tainui Māori suffer the harshest penalties of the colonial process. In 2019 contemporary Māori artist Brett Graham (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, Tainui) spent six weeks in Taranaki as the Govett-Brewster Artist in Residence. Connecting with tangata whenua and his extended whānau, Graham researched the history of the relationship between Taranaki and Tainui Māori, focussing on the pact of solidarity forged during the New Zealand Wars. The resulting exhibition Tai Moana Tai Tangata reflects on those events and projects the lessons learned through colonisation into the future; dark visions of a world corrupted by human endeavour that issue a grave warning in the present.
The Tai Moana Tai Tangata publication centres on Brett Graham’s ground-breaking exhibition at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in Ngāmotu / New Plymouth. The installation – including 5 large sculptures and 3 projected video artworks presented an immediate design challenge – what form of publication can accommodate the 9.6 metre tall nui Cease Tide of Wrong-Doing, wide-format video works and sweeping views of the installation and do them all justice? A portrait-format book with a series of gatefold pages resulted. The photography of the exhibition is the central feature – capturing the experience of being in the space, the sombre colour palette of the artworks, their installed relationships, and the moody, theatrical lighting. Two separate photo shoots are also threaded into the design – a narrative documentation of the exhibition pōwhiri, and a photo essay of significant sites and memorials that inspired the artworks. The book’s sombre greys and browns are inspired by the sculptures, with the metallic grey reflecting the graphite coating of the carved wagon, Maungārongo ki te whenua, Maungārongo ki te Tangata.
The design uses a carefully structured layout grid and timeless, readable, highly crafted typography. Care has been taken with the placement of the essay illustrations – with these threaded through each story to enhance a sense of narrative and passing time inherent in the exhibition itself.
