Michael Parekowhai
Michael Parekowhai | New Zealand b.1968 | Boulogne 2001 (from ‘The consolation of philosophy – “Piko nei te matenga”’ series) | Type C photographs, ed. of 8 | Purchased 2006. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | © The artist
The Hand, the Eye & the Heart | 1 October 2011 — 12 February 2012 | GOMA | Free admission
Michael Parekowhai’s photographs concern the way history is constructed and written. ‘Piko nei te matenga’ translates as ‘when our heads are bowed with woe’ and refers to a lament sung by soldiers of the Māori Pioneer Battalion at the burial of the man who had been their commanding officer during World War One. Many Māori volunteered, fought and died on the battlefields of northern France and Flanders, notably in Boulogne, Le Quesnoy and Calais: through his funereal bouquets, Parekowhai questions the meaning and consequences of this. The flowers represented here, made from silk and plastic, are not native to New Zealand; like the Māori soldiers in Europe, they are far from home. Though many never returned from the war and their contribution was largely omitted from popular account, as with these flowers, their memory remains suspended in glory.
