Tūātea, by Louise Pōtiki Bryant, was commissioned for the Waka Festival 2020, then went on to be exhibited on the Mana Moana Digital Ocean. 

Tūātea has also been projected onto water screens at festivals both nationally and internationally between 2020 - 2022 as part of the Mana Moana project.

Tūātea is inspired by Hinemoana, atua wahine of the moana, and explores the power of the huge breaking waves of an oceanic storm and the profound claim at the lowest depths of the ocean, even when the surface of the moana is at it’s most turbulent.

Tūātea features Pōtiki Bryant and dancer Bianca Hyslop, with music by Paddy Free and taonga pūoro by Horomona Horo.

Concept, Director, Editor, Animator - Louise Pōtiki Bryant
Director of Photography - Paddy Free
Dancers - Bianca Hyslop, Louise Pōtiki Bryant
Composer - Paddy Free
Taonga Puoro - Horomona Horo

Tūātea

Louise Pōtiki Bryant was co-director and editor for the film Te Mata by choreographer Taane Mete. Louise also created the animations, video art and storyboarding for the film. Te Mata features Kasina Campbell and Taane Mete.

 is inspired by the pūrakau of Rongokao and Hinerakau, and is a re-imagining of their two worlds that awaken from hibernation.

“The story as created on film threaded together the natural surrounds of epic environmental sea and landscapes and allegorical underwater exploration. Physical gesture, shape and embodied response to the distinct ātua storylines occur with strong scenery that shifts between surreal and realistic backgrounds.’ 

Dr Tia Reihana - Morunga, Theatreview, 15 March 2022.

Creative Artistic Director - Taane Mete
Choreographer / Performer - Taane Mete
Co-Director / Editor / Visual Effects - Louise Pōtiki Bryant
Creative Producer - Vanda Karolczak
Wahine Performer - Kasina Campbell
Director of Photography - Joshua Faleatua
Creative Consultant - Sam Evans
Composition & Sound Design - Arli Liberman
Voice Composer - Taisha Tari
Taonga Puoro - Salvador Brown
Kaikupu Whatumanawa - Ngaronoa Renata
Costume Design - Rosemary Whitehead
Drone Photography - Sam Evans
Underwater Cinematography - Toaki Okano
Underwater Cinematography Assistant - Jessica Gernat
Kaitiaki Mana Whenua - Terri Ripeka Crawford
Make up Consultant - Stef Knight

Proudly supported by Creative New Zealand Arts Council of New Zealand, Toi Aotearoa

Te Mata

 is based on the performance installation 

- a work created by Louise Pōtiki Bryant during her time as Ngāi Tahu artist in residence at the Otago Polytechnic School of Art. 

 explores the community’s loss of the wharenui (meeting house) at Araiteuru marae and the death of one of its elders two years later - Emma Potiki Grooby (Aunty Babe). Emma never saw the wharenui rebuilt.

"In 1997 the whare at Araiteuru marae was destroyed by arson. In 2003 the whare was rebuilt. Through an interdisciplinary use of dance, performance, video, sound, light, collected stories and memories Louise Pōtiki Bryant explores three integrated aspects of the Araiteuru marae: the importance of the wharenui to the community and to the individual; the mauri or life force of the whare; and, the relationship of the whare to the human body. Whakaruruhau is the shelter, the space within which Bryant moves, tells the story of a community, and in particular takes us to the story of Emma Potiki Grooby (Aunty Babe).” 

Susan Ballard, Catalogue for Whakaruruhau.

Whakaruruhau

is a dance film by Louise Pōtiki Bryant with music by Paddy Free and James Webster, featuring dancer Rose Tapsell. 

was commissioned for the Mana Moana project and has been projected onto water screens at festivals both nationally and internationally between 2019 - 2023.

explores the relationship of the tinana (human body) to the moana. In the making of the film Louise was guided by the kaupapa of Ki uta ki tai (from the mountains to the sea) which acknowledges the relationship of communities with the land and ocean and an understanding that the well-being of people is tied to the health of te taiao (the natural world). 

Ki uta ki tai

Ko wai ko au ko au ko wai - I am the water and the water is me is a single-channel video work inspired by atua wahine Parawhenuamea.

Parawhenuamea is associated with silt deposit and is manifested by the relationship of freshwater emerging from and caressing the earth, in the springs and streams which flow from the mountains, connecting awa on its way to Hine moana.

The flooding power of Parawhenuamea is offered as a way to reset both emotionally and environmentally, shifting the silt of repressed emotions, ultimately leading to a cleansing, a regaining of balance, and a renewal of the mauri and well-being for our ourselves and our environment.

Ko wai ko au ko au ko wai was originally commissioned for the Toi is Rongoaa Exhibition at Waikato Museum, Te Whare Taonga o Waikato in 2022.

“Among other powerful moments, was Louise Pōtiki Bryant’s (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Waitaha) large moving image work Ko wai ko au, ko au ko wai – I am the water and the water is me (2022), exploring the artist’s personal journey with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). This condition is chronic, common andoften misunderstood, yet Pōtiki Bryant’s work feels anything but conflicted. It presents a serene underwater-scape populated by silhouettes isolated in a deep blue abyss” Nigel Borell, review of Toi is Rongoaa, Art News Aotearoa, No 197, Autumn 2023

Ko wai ko au ko au ko wai 

is a collaboration between Louise Pōtiki Bryant and Paddy Free, and is inspired by Lake Wānaka in Te Wai Pounamu. The film is also inspired by the kupu ‘roto’ meaning 'lake'. Roto also means 'within' and is used to refer to the space which is physically within another defined space.

 Louise explores the kaupapa of the lake within; the lake being a metaphor for our consciousness, and the surface of the lake being likened to our emotional state.

 was commissioned by the Festival of Colour and was funded by Te Runanga o Ngāi Tahu.

Roto

Commissioned for Mana Moana Ōtepoti 2023, 

is a short film directed by Louise Pōtiki Bryant in collaboration with Moana Wesley and Ati Teepa.


“Our largest sea bird, the Toroa (albatross) is steeped in symbology. Carving our coast line with strength and majesty, when they leave, just like the stars of our new year, they always return.

‘Hoki wairua mai
I ruka i te rau o aroha
Ki kā rau Toroa’

Ati Teepa writes of his return to Ōtākou, bringing the spirit of his Tāua home with his love, returning as if on the feathers of the Toroa.


This promise of return in itself offers hope and belonging. The Toroa is embodied by Wesley as knowledge holder and ahi kā in Ōtākou, and the powerful poetry of Teepa is like breathing out a story on the wind of his own return to follow the lineage of his Tāua. The interplay between those that stay and those that return holds tension, finds warmth and builds connection. The astounding video art and animation by Pōtiki Bryant, and music by Paddy Free with spoken poetry by Teepa and waiata by Wesley layer many nuanced aspects to this work…” (Arihia Latham, Otago Daily Times)

Animation, Editor and Director: Louise Pōtiki Bryant 

Poetry and Spoken Word Artist: Ati Teepa Dancer

Te Rereka o Te Toroa