KARLALISE HORSTMANS

Rangi Heke Mai (Future Skies) came to me intuitively complete with the name, and coincides brilliantly with Aotearoa's observation of Matariki. The work reveals my subconscious reflections about the past, present and future of our beloved land and sky. The work is an immaculately rendered conceptual piece, depicting an abstract landscape with ethereal, organic and technological connotations. Primarily soft blue with subtle streaks of violet and green, lenticular in effect, the work begins with the premise of an other-worldly tranquility, somewhere between sea and sky. An evocative symbol inscribed across the work with silver leaf is open to subjective interpretation, part of a broader, unknown language perhaps, suggesting eras of knowledge lost (or yet to be gained) as civilizations rise and fall upon our land. A pattern of white lines form severe angles across the horizon, evoking notions like information transmission, weather manipulation, artificial structural features within the fabric of our reality, and the triangular shapes of sails that are so common in our waters. Stacked tabs of Mother of Pearl line up along the base of the work, reminiscent of skyscrapers and also the bones of our fingers. The cities built upon this land are the product of our people's toil. An organic colored oblong shape hovers in the centre, with a textural band of flecks dividing it horizontally. Is it Ra, his fury moderated by the measures we are taking to protect ourselves from his scorching rays? Or does it signify the presence of a new arrival to our shores, this time from above? This piece makes visual the quiet stirrings of my unease about the state of our land, our treatment of her skies, and all that is yet to be learned (and lost) across the infinite passage of time.