Architecture of Aroha: Indigenous baby sleeping vessels

Published by Objectspace in 2024 on the occasion of: Architecture of Aroha

30 November 2024 to 16 March 2025: Objectspace, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

Architecture of Aroha is a collaboration between Gunvor Guttorm, Berit Kristine Andersen Guvsám, Inga Ravna Eira, Tanya Reihana White and Jasmine Te Hira, curated by Zoe Black. The project unfolds a dialogue between two objects that hold important cultural significance, the wahakura and the gietkka, baby sleeping vessels from Māori and Sámi communities respectively. Within these Indigenous groups, the making of the sleeping vessel and its materiality is more than a craft, it’s an expression of ancestral wisdom about care and love and the interconnected world that brings nature, the land, makers, family, ancestors and the extended community together. These sleeping vessels are presented in this project as examples of architectural knowledge and to show the connections between how Indigenous spaces are constructed, across the world.

This free publication features a conversation between Gunvor Guttorm (Sápmi) and Tanya Reihana White (Aotearoa), poetry by Inga Ravna Eira, and an essay by Hana Pera Aoake, alongside colour images of both the making process and the first iteration of the exhibition, shown as part of the Luleå Biennale 2024.

With thanks to: Emily Parr, Karl-Oskar Gustafsson, Manaia Kolio, Mikael Pirak, Ngaroma Riley, Nikau Reihana-Wallis, Ove Stødle, and the amazing team at the Luleå Biennale 2024