A new large-scale sculptural installation by Opotiki-based Maori artist and weaver, Tangimoe Clay, opens this Saturday at 4 pm, with a reception at Te Koputu a te whanga a Toi — Whakatane Library and Exhibition Centre.

The exhibition titled Mataraupo, will offer audiences an ‘illusion of the past' and feature work and natural materials sculpturally hung throughout the main gallery.

'Together, all of the elements create movement in the room – offering a dance that connects the past, present and the future,” says Victoria Sinclair, museum and arts exhibitions coordinator.

The installation illuminates the journey of raupo – a perennial wetland plant found at the edges of lakes and streams – from its origins as a fundamental material of early Maori life.

Mataraupo brings the viewer into an immersive environment of forms crafted using traditional raranga (weaving) techniques and natural materials such as raupo, hunehune, harakeke, whitau and toetoe.

While raupo whare may have disappeared in the 1800s, raupo can still be seen today on the East Coast, lining the inside of wharekai and wharenui.

'Experienced as a work of contemporary art, this room-size installation reveals an act of remembrance,” says Whakatane museum and arts director Eric Holowacz.

'There is an otherworldly quality to the artist's combination of manu tukutuku (kites), kakahu (cape) and poi raupo. The idea of the past is part of this dance, living within the simple yet profound visual statements and organic materials.”

Though she is an internationally exhibiting artist, just in this past year she has shown in exhibitions across New Zealand, including the national exhibition, The Real Opotiki, earlier this year and in 2016, Toi Maori Market and the local exhibition, Arts Revealed.

She was the recipient of the Molly Morpeth Canaday 3D local Merit award in 2016.

'Artists like Clay continue to keep the traditional practices of weaving alive, while generating new interest in traditional Maori creative forms.

Mataraupo will be on view from December 9 to February 4 and is complemented by a catalogue available at Te Koputu a te whanga a Toi — Whakatane Library and Exhibition Centre.

The public is invited to meet the artist and celebrate her work at the opening ceremony with special guests Kaikarakia - Ringatu and Whakatane District Council councillor Nándor Tánczos, this Saturday from 4 pm.

Anthony Davies' exhibition 'As the Situation Unfolds”, will open alongside Mataraupo.