Clay Song
This is how it begins.
With a space, with a piece of the earth.
This is how it begins, with a piece of the earth in your hands.
To hold this piece of the earth in your hands and to turn it around and around.
To hold this piece of the earth in your hands and to turn it around and to feel that this is how it begins.
To breathe and to hold this piece of the earth in your hands and to breathe, to feel that this is how it begins.
To breathe in the weight of the light and the dark and to hold this piece of the earth in your hands and to feel that this is how it begins.
To hold this, this piece of beginning and to move the piece of beginning and to feel its cold, its cold breath and to move it around between your fingers and thumb and to feel it stick.
To feel the way it sticks, and to move the piece of beginning to feel its cold, to feel its cold breath, and to breathe, and to listen to the song, to the slow song of this piece of the earth.
And to hear the cold and the slow song of this piece of the earth, the way it holds the cold, the way it waits and sways, to feel its infinite patience for hands, the hands that pick it up and turn it, hold it, listen to its beginnings.
To feel the way it sticks, and to move the piece of the beginning to feel its cold, to feel its cold breath, and to breathe, and to listen to the song, the slow song of this piece of the earth.
To hold this, this piece of beginning and to move the piece of beginning and to feel its cold, its cold breath and to move it around between your fingers and thumb and to feel it stick.
To breathe in the weight of the light and the dark and to hold this piece of the earth in your hands and to feel that this is how it begins.
To breathe and to hold this piece of the earth in your hands and to breathe, to feel that this is how it begins.
To hold this piece of the earth in your hands and to turn it around and to feel that this is how it begins.
To hold this piece of the earth in your hands and to turn it around and around.
This is how it begins, with a piece of the earth in your hands.
With a space, with a piece of the earth.
This is how it begins.
- Lynley Edmeades UKU//UTU Curated by Māia Abraham and Jesse-James Pickery 18 July 2019 - 24 August 2019 With Nigel Borell, Heramaahina Eketone and Wi Taepa Uku being from the body of Papatuānuku and also being the material that sculpted the first human, Hineahuone in Māori oral tradition, represents a direct connection with the land. Our language, Te Reo, mimics the waves of the ocean, the birds of the trees and the shapes of the hills. The way we communicate and relate to each other is intrinsically connected to the land from which we come from. Uku is a powerful symbol of this whakapapa through which we can gather people together to learn and teach each other. For more information and to view documentation of the exhibition, click here.
