Hotere

Wednesday 13 May at 7.30pm

Merata Mita | New Zealand | 2001 | 82 mins | M adult themes

In the latter part of her career, Mereta Mita directed an impressionistic feature-length portrait of one of NZ’s most important artists, Ralph Hotere.

“Ralph Hotere has confronted us with all manner of texture and material, on canvas, corrugated roofing iron, glass, stainless steel, through windows, with light and darkness, No 8 fencing wire, in installations, alone and in collaboration. To many he is a visionary with his finger on the pulse. Like his art, he is a man of ambiguity, allegory, beauty and complexity. Natural and religious symbols, the contradictions between sacred and secular, dark and light, are underlying themes, which serve the prophetic and aesthetic functions of his work. It is left to us to turn the key to the door of communication in his works, on rectangular frames of celluloid, illuminated by shafts of pure light flashing through his black, and colour. The film does not view Hotere through labels. And it does not deny the spectator’s right to respond, to challenge, to accept, to reject, to plumb the depths, to become involved.” – Merata Mita

“There are very few things I can say about my work that are better than saying nothing”. – Ralph Hotere