Dusk to Dawn
Koki Ake Te Oro
Debbie Broughton
About the work
Set on whenua and moana where pā, kāinga, and kai-gathering grounds once stood, the performance recalls histories obscured by urban development yet still woven into the land and sea. Through poetry, light, and augmented reality, the work transforms the waterfront into a living portal, where the past speaks to the present and illuminates a future that remembers and honors ancestral presence.
After earlier iterations in PA2023 and PA2024, this work returns in a new form. In PA2026 Koki Ake Te Oro is more than a poem, it is a call to hīkoi with Ngāti Haumia and Ngāti Tūpaea of Te Aro Pā. The work asserts tino rangatiratanga and projects mana motuhake onto the night skin of Te Papa, inviting audiences to walk alongside tangata whenua, step into solidarity, and honor Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
The project emerges at a critical moment, responding to national politics that seek to erase Te Tiriti and diminish the role of tangata whenua in Aotearoa. Koki Ake Te Oro acts as creative resistance, placing the presence of Te Aro Pā directly in the path of every visitor.
