Albert McCarthy
"The marae is where the heart of the Maori thing is. It's identify, making a connection. Going back to those places gives you a sense of who you are."
Albert's work draws on Maori cultural traditions as well as contemporary artistic theory and practice. He uses a wide range of media: paint, wood, canvas, flax, and earth, to explore design, form, colour, texture, space and movement. Natural materials are often used with their textures and impact enhanced by fine crafting.
Maori mythology and naming of places are important in Albert's work. He reveals these communal links without placing himself between the ideas and his audience. Emerging from a Maori consciousness centred on community, the art moves freely between cultures as much as between materials and mediums.
Colour, movement and vibrancy describe the sculpture in the Children's Zone. It depicts the sun, trees, mountains, a river and native wood pigeon, and the wayward Manawatu westerly wind. "The concept was to use forms that were simple, colourful and vibrant, and to use them in a way so they were accessible to as many people as possible. From a cultural perspective, I aimed to reflect the various natural and spiritual elements which have contributed to this deeper sense of who we are, and how we relate to the land."
The work also incorporates other Maori elements such as the naming of the Manawatu River, the journeys of ancient ancestors through the land and the sources of sustenance for the people.
