Inspired by nimamea’a tuikakala, the Tongan fine art of flower designing, Sione Monū has been experimenting with floral patterns for over six years, beginning with traditional forms including masks and crowns referencing Tongan ceremonial and celebratory costume. This new work, ‘Ao Kakala Ōtautahi which translates to Christchurch Flower Clouds, is a mass installation of joyous clouds that glitter and shine in the sky. That these ‘ao kakala, made from artificial flowers and beads, are hung in the Botanic Garden’s Cuningham House; a space designed to house plants that require a warmer, wetter environment speaks to the work artists do to continue and adapt cultural forms, sometimes breaking from convention to create new and rich aesthetic encounters.

In the context of this season’s theme Shadows Cast, ‘Ao Kakala Ōtautahi can be read in a number of ways. On a physical and sensual level Monū has changed the basic properties of clouds; instead of dampening and dappling natural light, Monū’s beaded and flower-embroidered kakala dance in the rays, throwing new kinds of shadows into Cuningham House and the Fern House, tangling with the silhouettes of the plants and changing the way in which we experience the space.

Shadows Cast also engages with overlapping histories, highlighting methods that artists use to respond to dominant histories and suggest new ways of understanding Ōtautahi and Aotearoa. Botanic Gardens around the world, especially those in the Commonwealth, act as museums do, collecting specimens from different countries then presenting and organising them according to colonial principles. The stunning combination of decorative floral forms in ‘Ao Kakala Ōtautahi within the winter gardens, generously supported and encouraged by the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, points to ways that dis-ordering can challenge widely held values and can lead to more open and compelling environments.