TE ARA (THE PATH)

i = the square root of minus 1 (no.2)

Te Ara is one work with four distinct parts that overlap in odd ways. It is an attempt to create a small scale interacting system, a collage of life itself.

The image above is the second work in the i series. The works all take the form of the letter i - an upright rectangle beneath a circle shape. In this case the rectangle contains the Leistavia Constitution Upload Day celebration image. This celebrates the day the constitution was uploaded to the internet, December 4th 2004.

In keeping with the hybrid cultural theme of my work, there are four flags in the image - Pitcairn Island, Norfolk Island, Estonia and Leistavia. The first three places were strong influences in the development of Leistavia. The hat is woven in Japan, my wife's grandfather's hat. The feathers are two kereru tail feathers, a Cape Barren goose feather, and a peacock (brown underbelly feather). The hat has a woven band which was made on Norfolk Island using local grasses.

I used to follow the kereru trails through Pukekura Park in New Plymouth, and have many kereru feathers. The Cape Barren goose feather came from Maria Island, a wildlife sanctuary near Tasmania Australia. The peacock comes from Banks Peninsula in the South Island.

The i series take as a starting point the many ways that i is understood - as the sign for information, as the denoter of the self, and as a number (the square root of minus 1) that is used to make the Mandelbrot set and model water flowing down a drain. I'm using the form to say various things. This piece was quite hard to resolve, in the end it needed the age of the wood and the age of the hat.

There are five parts to this web presentation. Click the numbers1-5 in the top right of the page.