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The Tangi of Rūaumoko, 2023 This image depicts a young, innocent-looking woman seemingly falling backwards into a bed of flowers. In Māori narratives, Rūaumoko is the atua of earthquakes and volcanoes, the youngest son of Ranginui and Papatūānuku. While versions vary by iwi, some say he was too young to be born, remaining within Papatūānuku's womb. At the separation of his parents, Rūaumoko's distress at his mother's grief caused Papatūānuku (the earth) to shake, spewing fire from her body and creating the first volcanoes. Through this narrative, Ranginui uses playful yet mystical imagery of flames, creating a whimsical image of an innocent woman reminiscent of Papatūānuku. The Tangi of Rūaumoko is from a body of four work commissioned by Christchurch Art Gallery for Spring time is heart-break.
This extract originally appeared in New Zealand Photography Collected: 175 Years of Photography in Aotearoa (Te Papa Press, 2025).
In Māori narratives, Rūaumoko is the atua (deity) of earthquakes, volcanoes and seasons. He was the youngest son of Ranginui and Papatūānuku, the sky father and earth mother. When the parents were forcibly pushed apart by Tāne, and Papa was turned face down, Rūaumoko remained with his mother — still in her womb according to some stories, or at his mother’s breast in others. Rūaumoko was carried into the world below, and the earthquakes he causes are responsible for the changing seasons, releasing the heat or cold of Papa to the surface of the land and thence to the air. The title The tangi of Rūaumoko, combined with the flames, may suggest Rūaumoko’s grief at the human despoilation and abuse of Papatūānuku, with his sorrow expressed in climate warming, caused by the heat he can generate. The woman spectacularly yet serenely on fire could be Papatūānuku, Rūaumoko in female form, or another atua altogether.