Tīpuna

Original painting SOLD, oil on canvas, 920 x 610mm, 2007

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Print sizes and editions (limited to 275)

• Regular museum archival paper print - 770 x 511mm

Your unique limited edition fine art print

1. Sofia Minson creates your exclusive signed print
2. We ship for $25 in NZ and from $50 internationally
3. Your artwork arrives rolled, ready to be framed - do you need help? Request framing guidance
   
   

The story of Tīpuna

"Tipuna" meaning "ancestor" in some Māori dialects, closely follows the theme of Sofia's exhibition entitled "Te Here Tāngata - The Rope of Mankind". As a description of genealogy, the phrase symbolically alludes to a long rope or vine, which stretches into the past for generations until the instant of creation and on into the future. In our contemporary world of instant gratification and swift development, Te Here Tāngata is a humbling concept.

Sofia visualizes in this work, her own connection to her Swedish, Māori (Ngāti Porou) and Irish heritage. The subject is loosely based on the artist's female ancestors and Sofia herself. Wearing a Celtic influenced moko (Māori tattoo) on her chin and with her golden hair adorned with an elegant Huia feather, the woman in the painting represents a fusion of these richly diverse cultures and bloodlines.

Sofia reaches back into her distant past and in this contemporary portrait makes a connection with her forebears. The vine falling from the headdress and creeping over the subject's shoulder in the shape of a korowai (Māori cloak) becomes the rope from Te Here Tāngata. Each koru represents a life or an ancestor. Explored in this work and indeed in the whole exhibition, is the notion that everything, including the past and future, exist within one moment and within one person.

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Sofia Minson Paintings | New Zealand Artwork | Tupuna | Tipuna | Maori | Ngati Porou | Te Here Tangata