Tai Ao, Tai Pō

 Rachael Rakena (Ngāi Tahu, Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Pākehā) coined the term ‘Toi Rerehiko’ to describe and locate her own video/ digital/ electronic-based art practice in terms of continuum, motion, and collaboration. Critiquing notions of fluid identity and cultural understandings of space and water through metaphors of digital space as water space, inhabited by iwi Māori, her art installations have evolved to enculturate and politicize water itself, navigating issues of ongoing Pacific diaspora, flooding and rising sea levels, and decolonization/(re)vitalization. Exhibiting internationally for 20 years and lecturing for 25 years she is currently based at Whiti o Rehua School of Art, Massey University.