Church on a hill, Pauatahanui

Church on a hill, Pauatahanui

E ai ki tā Robin White, ‘Ka tā au e ai ki te wāhi kei reira au.’ I te tīmatanga o ngā 1970, i roto a Robin White i tētehi hapori ringatoi, kaituhi, mātanga hoki e kīia ana ko “Bottle Creek”, i Paremata. I hoki a White ki te hāhi Baha’i i tupu ai ia, ā, ka whakakoia tōna pūkenga hei kaitā-tohu.

E pātata ana ki Bottle Creek ko te whare karakia o Hato Epana, e kitea ana i tā White tānga tohu. Ka kitea i roto i te whare wahie Gothic Revival tētehi pou pere ka taea te kite i runga ake i te katoa o tōna rohe, arā, he tūtohu whenua. Ko tōna āhua motuhake me tāna whakaaturanga hei kai mā te karu, me tana aro ake ki ngā rangitūhāhā, arā, ko te whakapuna ki Te Runga Rawa. He pou here i te whenua ki te rangi.

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Robin White once stated, ‘What I paint depends on where I am’. In the early 1970s Robin White was part of a community of artists, writers and intellectuals living at “Bottle Creek” in Paremata. During this time, White returned to the Baha’i faith in which she was raised, and established her refined style and skills as a screenprinter.

Nearby to Bottle Creek was St Alban’s Church, depicted by White in this print. The Gothic Revival timber building has a bell tower that can be seen over the wider area, an icon in the landscape. Its inherent design and depiction here directs eyes and attention upwards towards the heavens, a sign of faith aloft. Its visual height functions as a connector between the physical and spiritual realms.

— Text developed for Te Hau Whakatonu: A Series of Never-ending Beginnings (5 August 2023–11 February 2024), curated by Taarati Taiaroa