Waiora: Hemi Macgregor

17 Tīhema - 16 Āperira 2023
17 December – 16 April 2023

Ki te whakaarohia te Waiora ka whakaarohia te oranga, te hau, me te hauora.

E whakatinana ana ngā mahi a Hemi Macgregor i tētahi reo ataata mārama muramura — e whakaatu ana i te hononga ki te tangata, te wāhi, me te aronga.  Ko ngā toi o Waiora hei tohu i te pitomata ka kitea pea i te wā ka tau ngā āhuatanga katoa o te ao o te tangata.  Hei tēnei whakaaturanga ko tā Macgregor, he āki i tētahi hononga ki te tangata ki āna mahi toi.

He rongonui nō Tāne-te-waiora i ngā kōrero mō te mārama me te māramatanga i pērā anō ai tā Macgregor whai i te mārama me te pōuri, te whakaata, te hakoko me te korikori o te aho i āna mahi.  Hei tohu mō te rangi, te wai me te whenua ka arohia e te ringatoi te whakatārewatanga o ngā hangahanga, te tae me te wā.  He pātaka pupuri kōrero a Waiora, ā, ka haere ngātahi a matawhaiaro me pūrākau, a wheako me maumahara, a pono me paki anō hoki.

Ko tohunga, ko mātauranga, ā, ko pūkenga Māori Marsden e mea ana, e rua , e rua, te māramatanga me te āniwaniwa, he hua nā te rā, i te au o te rere moana. Pēnei me te pitomata mai i te mātau ā-wheako me te hononga ki ngā toi — he tohu te tipu me te māramatanga mō te kotahitanga mai o ngā whetū, ā, ka tōia te aro ki te wāhi ki a tātau i te ao.

- Shannon Te Ao

Hemi Macgregor (He Ngāti Rakaipaaka, he Ngāti Kahungunu, he Ngāi Tūhoe anō hoki) he kaipeita, he kaitārai - He rite tonu tana whakamahi i ngā āhuahanga, ngā tauira me ngā tukanga o te raranga, o te tukutuku me te tāniko, ka mutu, ngā pūrākau mō te rangi, te whenua me ngā kaupeka o te tau.  Kei Kapiti ia e noho ana, ā, ko ia te pūkenga o Te Whiti o Rehua ki Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa.  Ko ngā whakaaturanga o nāia tata nei ko Matarau ki Te Whare Toi i te tau 2022; ko Toitū Te Whenua, Toitū Te Moana, Toitū Te Tangata ki Mahara Gallery i te tau 2021; ā, ko Toi Tū, Toi Ora ki Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki i te tau 2020 ki te tau 2021.

 To consider Waiora is to consider our wellbeing, vitality, and health.

The works of Hemi Macgregor embody a bold and vibrant visual language — rendering moments of connection between people, place, and purpose. The works within Waiora are testament to the potential that might be found when the shifting elements in one’s life align. In this exhibition Macgregor poses a parallel alignment between the viewer and his artistic offering.

As Tāne-te-waiora is acknowledged within narratives of light and illumination, Macgregor’s works engage light and dark, reflection, refraction and movement. In reference to the sky, water and whenua, the artist is interested in suspending structure, colour and action in time. Waiora holds stories that are simultaneously personal and universal, lived and remembered, tangible and intangible.

Tohunga, scholar and philosopher Māori Marsden describes the moment of illumination as akin to witnessing a rainbow appear, cast by the sunlight, in the wake of a moving waka. Such is the potential within our lived experience and our exchange with art — moments of growth and light are extraordinary events of alignment and draw an acute focus to our place in the world.

- Shannon Te Ao

Hemi Macgregor (Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tūhoe) works across painting and sculpture – often drawing on geometric structures, patterns and processes found in raranga, tukutuku and taniko, and pūrākau that express relationships to the sky, water, earth and seasons. He is based on the Kāpiti Coast and is a Senior Lecturer at Massey’s Whiti o Rehua School of Art. Selected recent exhibitions include Matarau, City Gallery Wellington, 2022; Toitū Te Whenua, Toitū Te Moana, Toitū Te Tangata, Mahara Gallery, 2021; Toi Tu, Toi Ora, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2020-2021.