Ahikāroa - Keep it Lit 2022

Ahikāroa reasserts mana whenua through a ‘game’ of territorial acquisition based on familiar and unique architectural structures built by Māori. Ahikāroa examines the significant loss of Māori physical landscape through land alienation and invests mana in some of the significant events in Māori history where the disruptions to Māori community were expressed architecturally.

This work interrogates the colonial landscape and psyche of land possession that suffocated Māori governance, land ownership and settlement patterns. Modeled on a popular wooden board game, invented c1962 by Robert Moore a pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, ‘Cathedral’ centres around two players vying for territorial supremacy within the bounds of a medieval city and was inspired by the Christchurch Cathedral. It typifies western colonisation, the ideology and methods of land conquest and considers what the game might look like of Māori had enjoyed uninterrupted occupancy of their lands.

Ahikāroa the determination of customary Māori land title by keeping the ‘burning fires of occupation’ through continuous habitation by a group has been severely disrupted through continual colonial processes of land alienation. This work asks the viewer to participate in the re-establishment of Māori historosity of land interplay by activating the ‘game’ pieces.

Game - can be site installed and played, recommended for a 1000 x 1000mm tile chessboard base
Total Game area 1000 x 1000mm.
Rules Included.
1 available.