Ringatu

The artistic traditions of Māori and Pākehā both contribute to Arnold Wilson’s work; the former relating to spiritual dimensions in his art and the latter a link to the physical world. They are conceived as two halves of a whole, which Wilson consciously unites in his art. In this way, the forms he creates convey a customary responsiveness to materials, also reflecting the simple abstracted forms associated with British sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.

The sculpture Ringatu is named after the religion practised in Wilson’s childhood village of Ruātoki. Ringatū literally means the ‘upraised hand’, but also conveys the history of Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki, founder of the Ringatū faith. Where Te Kooti shifted cultural, political and artistic perceptions of Māori, Wilson’s sculptures express a modern movement in Māori art.

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