Xoe Hall Limited Release Art Drop is LIVE

We can see in I am the Night and The Dawn, Forever, a depiction of Hinetītama and Hinenuitepō. One side of her is dark and the other is light. Hine-Tītama is the dawn maiden, a daughter of Tāne and the first woman, Hineahuone. When she found out that her husband Tāne was actually her father, she decided that she would leave the world of light and become the goddess of the underworld Rarohenga. There, she welcomes her children to her bosom once they pass into Te Pō becoming Hinenuitepō. She birthed many children into Te Ao Mārama and told Tāne to care for them. Celebrated throughout Xoe’s works, the miracle of wāhine being nurturers of both life and death.

The use of modern sexy boots, manicured nails as well as a traditional three fingered depiction of the feet echo the mana of these ancient atua wāhine being passed down to wāhine of today. Not only is the mana passed down, but wāhine become a living embodiment of that potency through our monthly cycles, our ability to carry life and nurture our babies at our breasts. We have the ability to call for our dead to be a part of the living, and the ability to send the wairua of our departed back to Te Pō, to Hawaiki pāmamao, to sail away on our karanga, our tangi māreikura, with our roimata.