Exhibitions » Exhibition Archive » Deane Gallery Archive » Leilani Kake: Tino Rangatira Tanga
The late Richard Kake, still from Leilani Kake’s video installation Tino Rangatira Tanga (2010). Courtesy of the artist.
Leilani Kake: Tino Rangatira Tanga
3 April - 13 June 2010 in the Deane Gallery
Leilani Kake (Tainui, Ngāpuhi, Cook Island, American) is a video installation artist based in Auckland. Kake utilises narratives taken directly from her personal life to comment on larger issues facing Māori and Pacific Island communities living in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Filmed entirely on hand held camera Tino Rangatira Tanga followed Kake as she documented her father’s tā moko (Māori facial tattooing), as well as his later illness and passing. The footage, shot in first person perspective with Kake behind the lens, provided the audience with an opportunity to experience these intimate moments through her eyes.
Speaking about her father, the late Richard Kake, Leilani explained that he was the strongest supporter of her artistic practice. Always consenting to be filmed, Mr Kake felt it was his obligation to record the living culture and history of tangata whenua. The documentation of Mr Kake’s tā moko actualised this endeavour, literally personifying the living ‘face’ of contemporary Māori art and culture. With this in mind Leilani Kake said she knew he would consent to the filming of his tangi (funeral) as long as it was done tastefully and with the respect it deserved.
On a personal level Tino Rangatira Tanga could be viewed as a heartfelt homage to the life of the late Richard Kake, a man Leilani Kake describes as a modern day Rangatira. Yet if we viewed this work from a purely anthropological perspective Ms Kake can be seen to be purposefully undertaking an important public service in the documentation of contemporary Māori life, art and culture.
Set amidst a rich acoustic sound track of customary moteatea (genealogical incantations), Māori hīmene (hymns), pop-reggae, and waiata whakangahau (songs of celebration), Tino Rangatira Tanga was a true to life story depicting the contemporary Māori process of tangihanga (funeral or mourning) and the important role which waiata continues to play in the everyday lives of Māori communities.
Artist's Biography
Leilani Kake was born in Rotorua in 1977. As a child she lived in Papua New Guinea, Australia, and eventually settled in Auckland. Her mother Julienne Greig is of Rakahanga Cook Island and American descent. Her father Richard Kake is of Tainui and Ngāpuhi descent.
Kake is an emerging video and moving image artist who gained a Degree in Visual Arts at Manukau Institute of Technology School of Visual Arts in 2002 and returned in 2005 to under take postgraduate study in Fine Arts. She regularly exhibits nationally and abroad, and recently presented a paper on Māori and Pacific urban arts in Aotearoa New Zealand to the Los Angeles College Art Association at the de Young Museum (2009) in San Francisco. Her most recent international exhibition was Le Folauga- the past coming forward: Cotemporary Pacific Art from Aotearoa New Zealand exhibition in Taiwan (2007), and in 2005 was awarded the Salamander Gallery/Creative New Zealand Emerging Pacific Visual Artist Award.