Philip Kilmore

This 2013 painting"Ruapekapeka Kaitiaki" is the first in a series of works that are based on the battle of Ruapekapeka in 1845 between British troops and Maori under the leadership of the great chief Kawiti. Ruapekapeka means “bat cave” which refers to the complex fortifications designed and built by Kawiti, which the British struggled to penetrate. The battle was the last in the North with Kawiti and the British negotiating a peace settlement shortly after. Significantly the battle was a stalemate with no winners or losers, where the British gained a greater respect for Maori, realising that Kawiti was a brilliant military tactician. The fortifications were a forerunner for future trench design in World War I.

The site of Ruapekapeka was surrounded by Puriri forest, and it is this forest that I have depicted here. Puriri glades were favoured in the north as burial grounds and the trees represent the spirits of the Maori ancestors. As such they are guardians or Kaitiaki. I have always regarded old “survivor” trees similarly as guardians and witnesses to the past, silently standing, watching and absorbing.

In viewing this painting we, the viewer, represent the present - where we are now – guided and guarded by the Pou (one of the original posts from the fortifications) as we travel the path. The Pou is a relic from the past, a reminder of what was once there. The path leads us into the future, but also metaphorically leads us back to our past. While the Pou is an embodiment of the Maori elements, the path is available to anyone to travel, and so we all travel the same path (pakeha and Maori) and learn the same lessons from the past, while sharing the future

Philip Kilmore
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Deconstructing

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This 2013 painting"Ruapekapeka Kaitiaki" is the first in a series of works that are based on the battle of Ruapekapeka in 1845 between British troops and Maori under the leadership of the great chief Kawiti. Ruapekapeka means “bat cave” which refers to the complex fortifications designed and built by Kawiti, which the British struggled to penetrate. The battle was the last in the North with Kawiti and the British negotiating a peace settlement shortly after. Significantly the battle was a stalemate with no winners or losers, where the British gained a greater respect for Maori, realising that Kawiti was a brilliant military tactician. The fortifications were a forerunner for future trench design in World War I. The site of Ruapekapeka was surrounded by Puriri forest, and it is this forest that I have depicted here. Puriri glades were favoured in the north as burial grounds and the trees represent the spirits of the Maori ancestors. As such they are guardians or Kaitiaki. I have always regarded old “survivor” trees similarly as guardians and witnesses to the past, silently standing, watching and absorbing. In viewing this painting we, the viewer, represent the present - where we are now – guided and guarded by the Pou (one of the original posts from the fortifications) as we travel the path. The Pou is a relic from the past, a reminder of what was once there. The path leads us into the future, but also metaphorically leads us back to our past. While the Pou is an embodiment of the Maori elements, the path is available to anyone to travel, and so we all travel the same path (pakeha and Maori) and learn the same lessons from the past, while sharing the future

In my 2008 work "Continuum" I have tried to convey the continual cycle of life, decay, and rebirth that is pivotal to our (& earth's) survival. The painting is set in the bush, which epitomises this cycle. It has "carved" in the rocks, going from the foreground to the midground to the background: "The Future...is the Past...is the Future" which is the continuum - that our future is built on the bones of the past, represented by the dead nikau fronds & the primordial rocks; the present is the living green trees; the future the lush utopian green and pleasant land viewed in the distance - which is also the past, before man arrived.	The 2007 work "Among Giants" is typical of my more recent work, with a representational yet slightly abstract feel. The work is dominated by a huge scuptural limestone rock - the "presence" of the rock is both looming and slightly threatening, yet at the same time it has the solidity and timelessness of it's primordial origins. I try in my work to capture that empty and solitary aspect of the landscape, but with a tranquility and sense of the spirituality redolent in it. I see trees as people, as the "now", spiritual guardians left behind, as with the work "Guardians of the Past", they are witness to what has been, reminding us of our past. I hope to convey that man can try and control his environment, (much as I am manipulating it), but nature will always prevail.

My 2005 exhibition "Preserving the Past" continued and developed my exploration of our rural environment, using the landscape and simple everyday subjects as metaphors for our place in the world. The title "Preserving the Past" refers not just to abandoned buildings and rusty machinery, but also to our environment generally. All these elements come together in this painting "Guardians of the Past". This fully imagined scene, redolent with spirituality, is an ideal I have been working towards. The path from the metaphorical present - represented by the cultivated grassland - leads back in time, through the nikau into the regenerating bush, then into the monolithic, primeval forest-clad hill. The cloud suggests our dependence on water and air, and is a spiritual guardian over the scene. The nikau are left behind, witness to what has been. They are lone sentinels, reminding us of our past.	My 2004 exhibition "Rural Decompositions" explored the decomposition of the rural New Zealand landscape. The painting "Through the Druid's Hall Window" presented an opportunity for me to express all that I am trying to convey in my pictures of old derelict buildings, and the Port Albert Druid's Hall was the perfect subject. The Druid's Hall represents the mystery of the past with all it's secrets unknown to us, and the inner darkness of the hall evokes that mystery. The window is a metaphor for looking in or through something - in this case the past - and creates a picture within a picture. Here we are looking through the past to the present, but the past, in darkness, remains a mystery. The hall is dilapidated and disused but through it we see sunshine and life, it is still standing, abandoned but not forgotten. I used a very close viewing point so as to exclude all else from the picture. The windowsill is left out to draw the viewer even closer into the scene, becoming part of it. This also creates a feeling of just being able to see in the window, like an inquisitive child or an outsider. Clearly somebody wants to see or to get inside, to explore and discover more, hence the broken window pane. So much of the past remains unknown but these relics provide a window into that past that we can explore with our imagination. I really enjoyed painting "Through the Druid's Hall Window" and hope that I have conveyed what I felt when I first saw this decomposing icon of rural New Zealand.