Mamakan Oustrup Laureijs- Slægtskab
$Price on application
The Kauri (Agathis australis) is among the world’s mightiest trees, growing to over 50 m tall, with trunk girths up to 16 m, and living up to 3,000 years.
Much has been said and written about this indigenous tree of Aotearoa and the current threat of Kauri dieback. Many Kauri forests have been closed to the public and we are learning to keep our distance. The installation brings us up close with ”New Zealand’s Forest King”.
Slægtskab – a danish word meaning ancestral relationship and connectedness – is inspired by a Māori legend called ‘The Whale and the Kauri’.
The legend tells us that the Tohorā (Whale) once walked on land and was a brother to the Kauri tree. In ancient lore the two giants among living things were made at the same time by Tane and had a special closeness. The Whale, it is said, even gave its skin to his little brother the Kauri as a final act of friendship before leaving the land to live in the sea.
The video installation begins with Kauri seeds sitting at the ocean shore talking to their brother the Whale. The seeds, together as the female cone, then slowly bring the droplets of the mighty ocean back into the deep forest. At the end of the work, the tree moves with the ocean droplets high up in the mountains as a reminder to us – the people – of the sacred connectedness with each other and all life forms.
The fragrance is created with an oil infused with Kauri resin. The scent is completely unique to the Kauri tree, described as ethereal piney – extremely delicate and light in a way that seems not to be of this world. The fragrance can be applied on top of the hand or below the wrist.
Kauri cocktails refers to the taste aspect of the multi-sensory artwork. The cocktail is made from a wild ferment infusion made from Kauri cones, a light syrup and the yeast from air around the artist’s studio in the forest of the Waitakere ranges. The infusion can be drunk on its own or added with ice and soda water (or champagne) to create a cocktail celebrating the wisdom and longevity of the Kauri.
For touch, Kauri bark is placed together with mussels shells for a sensorial immersion into the idea of connectedness between the forest and the sea. This element of the installation refers in particular to the story of Whale giving its skin to the Kauri.
Medium: Multi-sensory media: video, fragrance, cocktail, bark and mussel shell.
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