Layla Rudneva-Mackay: Tell yourself you're ok
21 April - 17 May 2008

Starkwhite is pleased to present Tell yourself you're ok, an exhibition of new work by Layla Rudneva-Mackay from 21 April to 17 May 2008.

I come here to speak about you, I come here to find you, I come here and sit in the sun. I come here and watch the smoke rise from a rubbish fire far off, I watch the tiny ant person tending it. I have pulled the kitchen table into the lounge. I face Whiria, an old pa. At the base of the pa is an uru pa, which at night glows with nightlights making a miniature town on the landscape. Beside the uru pa is the harbour and the very bay I am told where Kupe first landed. A small paddock and river separates me from the bay and uru pa. Last night my sleep was restless. This place is full at night. Full of people that roam at night. Generations are milling round outside my bedroom window. I know you appear in places like this. I feel fear, I can feel your fear, I can feel you want to protect me. I can feel it's hard for you to be here for there are many others here and here is their home not yours. They question you. You stand your ground for me. I worry about you again, in death I worry about you. I wish to protect you as you wish to protect me. We are intruders here, and I feel it, they tell us loudly. The sun rises and you're not here. The waves, the wind, the world move without you. Can I only live in cities, where I can't hear their voices? If I stay here long enough will they let me sleep? Will they let you live with them at night, in that little town across the river. If they let me sleep. Will you stay here with me, or will you see, I'm okay, and leave again. 
Layla Rudneva-Mackay, April 2008

For further information on the exhibition, or images, please contact: Starkwhite,

510 Karangahape Road
Auckland
New Zealand
Tel. 64 9 3070703
starkwhite@starkwhite.co.nz
www.starkwhite.co.nz