Ko Life Puzzle he whakaaturanga mahi o ngā tau tekau mā rima ki taua wā, kua whakaoraoratia e te ringa ti anō. Ka whakatakotōria tewhakaaturanga ki te āhua o te tangata koia, ki te tōnga o te ahiahi, ka titiro māhoi ki waenga waho me tepātai, “ Ehika! He pēhea ahau i tae mai ai ki konei?”
Ki roto i ana waituhi me ana tāraitanga, ka totoro Austin hepēhea tae ai mai A ki B mā te aronga tinanatanga me te whakataki. Ngā huarahi, motoka, waewae, mapi, ko ngā mahi he ritenga toipiripiri timatatanga, waenganui me te rārangi tino tautoko. He aha tēnei kua whakahua tonu mai? He aha ka whakahua mai?
Ka pērā ki te pukuhohe mātakitaki, ko te kākano o te mahi ringa toi, he whakaritenga pakimaero te whanaungatanga a tētahi ki tōna Ao. Ko tētahi mea, he pikitia o tētahi mea rānei, he whakataukī ka kīnaki i tētahi atu, kia ohorere te whakamana. Ko te ohorere ka hoatu ki tua i te katakata, koia tonu rā. I kitea rawa e koe he kōpaki haere pakituri? He kaimahi poutāpeta mau hū teitei? Ka tuhonohonotia e te ringa toi ngā iraira ki te momo tauhou....
Ko te takune a Nick Austin ehara noa iho hei whakakatakata i tētahi, anō nei. Ka hiahia ia kia wahapū rongo waia – whakaneinei, pōnānātanga, te whēuauatanga o tekōrerorero, hei mea – ki ngā momo autaia.
Ko ngā waitohu pērāi ngā kōpaki, kauranga ika, pouaka, ka whakaatu i te kahapupuri whakarerekē. He mea rawa kei roto i ēnei mahi? Ko tērā mea pea kāhore rānei kei te whakaatuhia, ko tā rātou hemahema? Koia pea ka tangohia e te ringa toi ngā matatika a te kaituhituhi ‘whakaatuhia, kaua e whākina’ engari ka whakamahia ko te ‘kaua e whakatuhia’....
Kei te whakaaturanga e hangatia ana e ngā kīnaki matihiko kore tonu rā ia hei mahi ki roto i te whakahoahoa aunoa, ka tāuteute Life Puzzle i te punaha moni o tōna ake takotoranga koia kua tunua ki roto i te pae pāpāho pāpori.
Hui katoa, ko ngā mahi ka whakaatuhia ki roto i a Life Puzzle he mea whai whakaaro me te whakamarau. He mea āhua ‘meta’.
I whānau aNick Austin ki Whangarei i 1979. I whiwhi ia i te tohu paetahi mō te toi ataata mai i te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Mākaurau i 2001 me te tāhu paerua o te Elam School of Fine Arts ki Whare WānangaTāmaki Mākaurau i 2004. Kua whakaatuhiaeia uta na i Atearoa me Ahitēria, Ngā Whenua TōpūAmerika me Ūropi. I 2012 he Frances Hodgkins Fellowa ia ki Te Whare Wānanga o Ōtākou ki Otepoti, kei reira ia e nohoana inaianei.
Catherine Dale
