Folds of Time Blooms of Vibrancy

It is my first encounter with Richard Orjis’ . The grass in Rangipuke Albert Park is achingly dry, but the flowerbeds are hallucinatory, resplendent with colour, thanks to the university gardeners. It’s 9am, and Richard is knotting the rope to hold the Tino Rangitiratanga flag to a tree. Across from it, the Pride flag flies in rhythm. Richard has been attending to the entangled political movements of Maori and queer activism, particularly as they have emerged through stratas of time and place in Rangipuke, for a good long time now. Over the past years his art practices here have become touchstones in my almost-daily visits through the park. As I wander past the magnolias, the fountain, the statue of Queen Victoria, my mind drifts to memories of walking in scaffolding through these treetops, to talks that make history evident, each tree, each object, existing in a milieu of choices and politics.