Auckland Live
2018
Pou Rama is a radiant light installation designed in collaboration with Māori visual artist Desna Whaanga-Schollum (Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Pahauwera). The sensory exhibition features a series of free-standing black metal structures called Pou Rama (light posts) that emit a vivid luminescence from within.
Inspired by pouwhenua (land symbols of support), Pou Rama represents the limitless creative wairua (inspiration) generated from te taiao (the environment). The whakairo designs carved out of the imposing structures express cycles of creativity and connections to place.
These cycles are further represented through the gradual metamorphosis of colour from within each pou. The work is multicultural in its themes and builds temporal connections via the eternal Māori narrative.
The incandescent installation has toured across Aotearoa, featuring at the LUX Light Festival in Wellington, the Matariki Festival at Aotea Square in Auckland, WOMAD 2020, and the LUMA Southern Light Project in Queenstown.
