BODY OF REMEMBERING / WHO CALLS ME ON WHEN NO ONE IS HOME

30 November to 30 November. Free entry.

Body of Remembering / WHO CALLS ME ON WHEN NO ONE IS HOME
Ella Rerekura

Venue: The Red Zone (4 Galbraith Avenue, Avonside)

Saturday 30 November, 4-7pm  |  ONE NIGHT ONLY

Part 1, Workshop: 4-5pm 

Part 2, Performance: 6-7pm 

Please note that this is an outside event at the Red Zone. Please park on Retreat Road (closer to Avonside Dr).

Join us for an off-site exhibition with Ella Rerekura. This exhibition will open with a workshop run by Ella, a multimedia performance will follow later in the evening.

You are welcome to come for both or either parts of the workshop and exhibition. This is work that has been developed from Ella Rerekura's residency with MAP (Moving Art Practice) earlier this year, looking further into ideas of belonging, and home.  

Part 1: Workshop, Body of Remembering 

“The practice of walking around a familiar place with your eyes closed—are you sure your body remembers where the light switch lives…can you remember where the rhubarb grows and the smell of rotting āporo disintegrating into the whenua…”

This workshop is lead by artist Ella Rerekura (Ngāti Rangi, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Tuwharetoa), exploring the idea of a remembering body, or perhaps reflecting on our bodies as a vessel for memories. 

Participants are invited to explore movement and free-writing that engages with the red zone landscape. All Ella asks is that you come with a sense of openness and sensitivity to yourself and others as we invite another way to deepen our listening practice.

 
Part 2: Performance, WHO CALLS ME ON WHEN NO ONE IS HOME

Ella's multimedia performance is a deeply personal exploration of her haerenga, tracing where she has been and where she stands today—a profound inquiry into belonging and what makes "home". 

Rooted in her upbringing within what is now Ōtautahi’s red zone, the work weaves together memories of her younger self with her ongoing journey as a young wahine Māori desiring deeper connections to marae, whenua, awa and whānau. Along the way, she has embraced her dance and body practice as a space of stillness and discovery, evolving into a "portal diving" practice—a means of being both present and in communion with her tūpuna. This layered and evocative work invites viewers into an intimate exploration of place, ancestry, and the ever-shifting notion of home.

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Ella Rerekura (Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Tuwharetoa) is a multidisciplinary dance artist from Ōtautahi, currently living in Tāmaki Makaurau. Ella’s artistic kete includes many practices, including dance, choreography, writing, pigment making and polaroid photography, which she uses to explore the nuances within her identity as wahine, Māori, and CODA (child of Deaf Adults). Ella’s artistic work is deeply tied to her whakapapa journey, which reflects her desire to learn and understand more about who her tūpuna are and how they reside in her body today.