Dr Areta Wilkinson (Ngāi Tahu)
Toro Atua, 2024

Stainless steel
July 2024 – permanent
Rolleston Town Centre

“Toro Atua are divine scouts sent forth to search, guide and scrutinise our actions and impact on this whenua. They are a taoka created from community aspirations already developing new relationships and pathways ahead.” – Dr Areta Wilkinson

Toro Atua reflects on Waikirikiri Selwyn’s environmental history and unique cultural identity. Light-reflecting stainless-steel figures hover above us and watch over our hīkoi, our journey through this abundant landscape. Inspired by the ancestral rock art of Te Waipounamu the South Island, they respond to concepts of pouwhenua, mauri, and mahika kai.

Pouwhenua are posts that mark possession of whenua, land, and are markers of identity. In Waikirikiri Selywn, Te Ruahikihiki, ancestor of mana whenua Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki, claimed the abundant wetlands of this region and established the pā of Orariki, a fortified village, at Taumutu.

Pouwhenua are also used for wayfinding along the trails across Kā Pākihi-whakatekateka-a-Waitaha, the Canterbury Plains. Toro Atua, with its clusters of pouwhenua, helps us navigate this landscape.

Mauri can be expressed as energy which binds and animates all things in the physical world. When the breath of Te Hau-kai-takata, the nor’ west wind, gusts across Waikirikiri Selwyn animating our trees and grasses, Toro Atua will shimmer and vibrate with life. High above our heads, the divine scouts of Toro Atua remind us to consider the wellbeing of people and the environment.

Meaning ‘to work the food’ mahika kai refers to practices of gathering resources, and the places of cultivation and harvest. Waikirikiri Selwyn, an area of natural abundance, contains a vast network of mahika kai sites essential to mana whenua, Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki ki Taumutu.

Toro Atua reflects journeys across the whenua to collect and prepare food and supplies, and the importance of nurturing the natural environment that sustains us all.