my life as a tunnel
Shannon Te Ao, Ngāti Tūwharetoa / New Zealander, (born Australia) born 1978
2018
Two-channel video with sound
Duration: 568.8 seconds (9.48 minutes)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the William S. Rubin Fund
Courtesy of the artist and Mossman, Wellington
2019.41
Geography
Place Made: New Zealand, Polynesia, Oceania
Period
21st century
Object Name
Time Based Media
Research Area
Time Based Media
Oceania
Not on view
Label
"This Bitter Earth" (1959) / Music and lyrics by Clyde Otis / Originally recorded by Dinah Washington
This bitter earth
Well, what fruit it bears
What good is love
That no one shares
And if my life
is like the dust
That hides the glow of a rose
What good am I
Heaven only knows
Lord, this bitter Earth
Yes, can be so cold
Today you are young
Too soon you’re old
But while a voice
Within me cries
I’m sure someone
May answer my call
And this bitter earth
May not be so bitter after all
Te reo Māori translation by Krissi Jerram (2017)
Te pūkawa rā o te whenua
Ai auē, anā te hua
He aha te take o te aroha
Ki te kore e tohaina
Ā, me he puehu
Taku noho i te ao
E ārai ana i te rōhi mumura
He aha te take o aku mahi
Ko wai ka hua?
Aeha, te pūkawa o te whenua,
Kātahi te mākinakina
Ka tangi te pītoitoi he pēpi tonu
Ka tō te rā kua kaumatua
Ahakoa e tangi tonu nei a Roto
Kia mau ki te whakairo
Ka whakahokia mai pea he reo anō
Kāti rā, ko te pūkawa o te whenua,
E kore rā e pūkawa i te mutunga
From the 2021 exhibition Shannon Te Ao: my life as a tunnel, curated by Jessica Hong, Associate Curator of Global Contemporary Art
Course History
SPEE 26, How New Media Shapes Our Lives Rhetoric, Theory, and Praxis, Svetlana Grushina, Winter 2020
ANTH 18, Research Methods in Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2021
Provenance
Commissioned by The Dowse Art Museum, Wellington, New Zealand; purchased through Hopkinson Mossman, Wellington, New Zealand; sold to present collection, 2019.
This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.
We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu