Cora-Allan Lafaiki Twiss, Ōtautahi (Christchurch) from the series While at sea, 2023. Whenua, kāpia ink, hiapo and brass. Courtesy: the artist and Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Christchurch.

Cora-Allan Lafaiki Twiss (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Tumutumu, Niue – Liku, Alofi) reflects on her recent two-week voyage by sea around Aotearoa, from the bottom of Te Waipounamu to Te Tai Tokerau in the north. Using whenua-pigment, hiapo and other resources from the ngahere, she documented the shapes and views of the whenua of Aotearoa from the perspective of the moana.

Cora-Allan was accompanied by her pāpā, Kelly Lafaiki (Niue – Liku, Alofi) who recorded the journey in a journal through notes and pictures, and artist Emily Parr (Ngāi Te Rangi, Moana, Pākehā), who captured the personal interactions of father and daughter in two moving-image works that sit alongside this exhibition. Encountering Aotearoa responds to the legacy of colonial mapping and recording practices, building on Cora-Allan’s research into the artists and botanists aboard the Endeavour during its maiden voyage in 1769.

Follow this artist