Kere M. Baker - ‘MOURNING MOUNTAINS THREE’

Kere M. Baker

• AND TARANAKI MOURNS HIS TWO LOST LOVES. 

• BUT DID TONGARIRO EVEN LOVE HER?

• SO, DID ANYONE ASK WHAT PĪHANGA WANTED?

This work draws upon the enduring Māori legend of Taranaki, Pīhanga, and Tongariro - a tale of love, jealousy, rivalry, and loss woven into the landscape of Aotearoa. According to the legend, Taranaki was defeated by Tongariro in a battle for Pīhanga, forcing him to flee westward. His tears carved the Whanganui River, finally resting in his solitary home beneath the Pouākai Ranges. Here he is forever gazing towards his lost love. The mists often surrounding Taranaki are said to be visible signs proving Pīhanga’s tears of longing, her haunting cry heard within the sigh of the winds. 

Raised within Māori culture in Aotearoa, the artist approaches this ancient story with a tongue-in-cheek reflection on the patriarchal narratives embedded within many traditional cultures. Beneath the romance lies the curious notion of a woman becoming the prize over which men battle -a possession within a story shaped largely by male desire. Through this landscape, the work invites us to consider the stories we inherit - and to wonder what might change if the woman at the centre of the legend is given a voice of her own.

Here, the mountains are not simply mountains. They carry the weight of desire, jealousy, separation, and remembrance. And within this, the artist asks us to wonder who is given a voice, a choice, and who becomes the prize in a story told by others. 

And perhaps more appropriately the question then becomes, 

is it even a prize after all?