Lisa Reihana

"Marakihau is one of my favourite works because it effectively replicates carving traditions. Marakihau is a word specific only to carving, it is a taniwha; water monsters that usually relate to specific locales inland or at sea. Taniwha are guardians of a place, so they can be both terrifying and good. They were said to inhabit dangerous places as a way to warn people of potential danger… My Marakihau is a composite of oceanic stuff; she has kelp dreadlocks and fishy bits. I styled this on the 1980s Soul II Soul Club Classics album cover with flying dreads, and my taniwha holds a bull’s horn like a big smoking chalice."

"Māori women are said not to carve, and I’ve always pushed the boundaries, so in terms of using media and photographic tools or film or video it’s my way of being able to carve. So rather than photographs I think of them as ancestral figures."

"For me and my marae, and my place for my community, it’s really important that it’s inclusive and that all people feel welcome and there’s a place for everybody inside the house."

"Mahuika (the goddess of fire) sits on a stool. She’s talked about as being part of the underworld… I’ve kind of contemporised what this underworld is… My Mahuika sits on a Marcel Breuer chair...I wanted to update my version of my Māori goddess by presenting her in this century… thinking about what does she look like, what does she mean and what does she say?"

"Video allows me to look beyond that framework and to show these characters as alive, proud, handsome, and strong."