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 ancestress and atua wahine Parawhenuamea.

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.

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.

“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 and often 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