PROVENANCE

Collection of the late Eric & Kathy Hertz

reference About Time features Pukaki's younger relative Tiki. Each viewing of About Time produces an immediate, almost visceral response in the viewer. The great carver Te Umanui has captured vividly the strength and compelling personal beauty of this famed Ngati Whakaue warrior (note the eyelashes: a highly unusual feature for a Maori carving). Pankhurst's setting on the wild southern West Coast beach provides an appropriately striking setting. But what grips you and holds you there is the intensity in Tiki's face, the underlying tension in his torso and limbs as you sense his deep effort of will to keep from being submerged by the encroaching sand. This is no passive creature simply enduring his fate, but a fierce determined survivor. Dara McNaught

This was my first Maori painting. I loved every moment I spent looking at it and painting it. Historically, Tiki was an important leader of the Ngati Whakaue people; the weapon in Tiki's hand denotes him as a great warrior. Tiki was originally carved as one of the gateways to Pukeora Pa on the hill above Ohinemutu in Rotorua. ALVIN PANKHURST