Anton Forde’s monumental installation of 81 over-life-size figures, Papare Eighty.one (2024) with Shiree Reihana, is shown in the UK for the first time in a new site-specific configuration and incorporating one of the earliest surviving wooden Māori figures in Europe, held in the Sainsbury Centre’s collection.
The wooden figures (pou), hand carved by Forde at 8.2 feet tall, are presented in a defensive V-shaped formation inspired by migratory birds’ united flying formation, wear garments woven by kaiwhatu (traditional Māori weaver) Shiree Reihana – which elevate the honour of the individual pou as well as the collective work – as well as a Pounamu/nephrite teardrop necklace, seen as a token of sympathy and shared emotion.
Forde’s work connects with the peaceful actions of the Māori community at Parihaka, New Zealand in November 1881, in the face of a British colonial invasion, and the many examples of similar world-wide powerful peaceful responses that have been inspired by Parihaka. It is a call for kotahitanga: unity, togetherness and solidarity. It shows that collective action can safeguard the future of our communities for generations to come, without need for killing – both physically and culturally.
The exhibition is part of the Sainsbury Centre’s Can We Stop Killing Each Other? season.
[Image caption: Anton Forde, Papare Eighty.one, 2024, at Pātaka Art + Museum. Photo: Mark Tantrum]
