21 Oct 2009
The music video directed by Louise Potiki Bryant for Ariana Tikao’s song TUIA, won ‘Best Music Video’ at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto, Canada, on October 19th 2009. TUIA is the title track of Ariana’s critically acclaimed second solo album released in 2008. The album was funded by Te Waka Toi, (Creative New Zealand).
Louise says “It’s a huge honour to receive the award, and I’m very excited that the work that went into making the video, has been acknowledged in this way”.
The video was shot, directed and edited by Louise Potiki Bryant last year and involved filming Ariana in culturally significant landscapes on Banks Peninsula and surrounding areas. Ariana’s Kai Tahu tipuna (ancestors) lived in various kaika, or villages all over Banks Peninsula, as well as Tuahiwi, a settlement north of Christchurch. The editing process, which Louise equates to the process of painting, involved developing the footage of these actual landscapes into textured, dream-like worlds.
“What I attempted to do with the video was create images to match the ethereal power of Ariana’s voice. I decided to create landscapes that appear to exist within Ariana, as her internal landscapes. I also developed textured external worlds within which she exists and transforms.”
Louise Potiki Bryant is a choreographer and video artist based in Piha, Auckland. Both Ariana and Louise are of Kai Tahu descent, and the video was funded by the Ngai Tahu Fund, a tribal-based initiative that funds cultural projects. Louise leaves at the end of October to undertake an international internship with choreographer Santee Smith, artistic director of Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, in Toronto, Canada. The internship is funded by Creative New Zealand through International Internship Programme.
Ariana has just been named a finalist in the Waiata Maori Awards for Best Maori Female Solo Artist. She recently worked with Louise again to develop her new show for the Christchurch Arts Festival, OHAKI. This was also funded by the Ngai Tahu Fund. Ariana is currently being represented by Creative New Zealand’s international team at the WOMEX expo in Copenhagen, and again next month at AWME (Australasian World Music Expo) in Melbourne, and Ariana’s latest single was included on a compilation album Creative New Zealand produced for these expos. Ariana is also going to AWME in November as a delegate.
TUIA meaning ‘stitched’ is a metaphor for the connections between people, within and across generations. The award at imagineNATIVE has given these Kai Tahu artists affirmation of the quality and significance of their collaborative work within an international context.
Share this
