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Overview
This poi tāniko titled "Poi Corona" was woven by Jude Te Punga Nelson in 2020 and featured in the Raukawa Weavers Collective exhibition at Bowen House.
Jude is frontline health professional who works as a radiation therapist, on her scheduled days off during level 3 and level 4 of lockdown she learned how to weave tāniko poi based on research and experimentation. Jude found an image of the COVID-19 virus online that showed a grey globe structure with red nodules. Jude also goes onto mention that this work was also inspired by Elizabeth Fischer, a microscopist who has significantly contributed to the concept of what we think the COVID-19 virus looks like.
"Covid has changed the world. Artists across time have recorded current events in drawings, paintings and other art forms. I wanted to create a woven memory for the future so that 20, 50, 100, 200 years from now we will look back and recall this extraordinary and deadly time."
Jude Te Punga Nelson, 2020
Construction
This poi tāniko is woven from dyed red and silver dyed muka (New Zealand flax fibre) using the tāniko technique.
The bottom of the ball of the poi is is adorned with red muka tassel.
The red projections on the ball of the poi constructed utilising knots to replicate the ngōre (pom-pom) embellishment commonly seen in kākahu (cloak) weaving.
A four ply whiri (braid) of silver muka protrudes from the finishing end of the ball to function as a cord. A red muka tassel is attached to the end of the cord to function as a handle.
Jude Te Punga Nelson
Jude Te Punga Nelson (Te Āti Awa) is a weaver born and raised in the Hutt Valley of Māori, Chinese, German and English descent.
Jude learned raranga (weaving) in 2011 through Te Wananga o Aotearoa. In addition to weaving, Jude is a trained radiation therapist and has practiced in three countries for almost four decades.
Raranga is an extraordinary art. It’s physical and intellectually challenging from a maths viewpoint as it’s all about patterns. It requires concentration and repetition and patience. It’s creative and spiritual. It sings to me when it’s "right" and is flat when it’s not quite there yet. It constantly evolves. I’m still so amazed at the mahi I can create that started its’ life as a plant in my garden.
Jude Te Punga Nelson, 2020