Overlooking the Ocean - A Kaikoura Marae

Takahanga Marae at Kaikoura in the South Island, sits on a high hill overlooking the village of Kaikoura and the ocean beyond. It's a beautiful spot and one that comes with a rich, layered history. The main wharenui (meeting house) [above]opened in 1992 but the marae occupies a site that has been home to Maori for over 800 years. In recent history - back in 1828 - there was a battle on the marae site, the buildings were burnt down and the whanau (occupying families) moved north to Mangamaunu. When the local Ngati Kuri (a Ngai Tahu hapu) decided to build a new wharenui on the site in the 1990s, they carried out an archaelogical dig and found the 800-year-old foundations of the old wharenui, over which they laid the new structure.

I spent this last weekend at the marae, covering a waka wananga (canoe workshop) for Ngai Tahu's TE KARAKA magazine and I was once again struck by the beauty and atmosphere of the place - all this enhanced of course by an astonishing collection of contemporary Maori carvings and artworks by leading New Zealand artists - Neil Dawson, Bill Hammond and Chris Booth to name just a few.

Some of my favourite works are the striking pouwhenua - above (Neil Dawson's "Feather" just visible to right) - that stand sentry in several parts of the large hilltop property. They have an aura about them, a strength and a magic that is almost tangible when you stand beneath them. It goes without saying of course, that if the grounds are so beautifully embellished, the interior of the new wharenui must be likewise - and indeed it is. Colourful contemporary carvings that depict the hapu's dramatic history and their whakapapa (genealogy) twirl and swirl their way up the walls and across the ceiling. We had our evening talks in the wharenui - everyone happily sprawled out on their sleeping mattresses listening to the speakers and looking up into the colourful intertwining of history elements and family histories. Hypnotic almost.

www.ngaitahu.iwi.nz www.tekaraka.co.nz

More International Acclaim for Maori Artist

Rachael Rakena, 2009. Image Courtesy Bartley & Company Art, Wellington

Back in 2005 I went along to Christchurch’s SOFA Gallery to see “Taonga Whanau,” a stunning show by Maori artist, Rachael Rakena (Ngai Tahu, Ngapuhi), a collaboration with Otene and Hana Rakena. I still have clear memories of the darkened gallery, the flickering, tantalising video images, the beautiful pounamu taonga (treasures), swinging above reflective surfaces. So I was delighted to learn a couple of days ago that Rakena’s newest video work, He Waiata Whaiaipo, recently exhibited at Wellington’s Bartley & Company Art, is set for international exposure. Rachael is one of the 25 musicians, artists and scholars selected by Wellington composer, Associate Professor Jack Body, to travel to China to take part in an international symposium on New Zealand and Pacific music at the beginning of November. Rachael’s work has been selected to be part of a video installation that Professor Body is curating. The image above – One Man is an Island – is a still from Rachael’s video work – “a love song in moving image employing the act of eating as a metaphor to play out ideas about desire, pursuit and fulfilment. In addition to working as an artist, Rachael is a lecturer at Toioho ki Apiti, School of Maori Studies at Massey University. To describe and locate her art practice, she has coined the term Toi Rerehiko, which plays on rorohiko, the Maori word for computer. Toi Rerehiko is a digital media art form immersed in Maori tikanga (custom) and values. In addition to exhibiting widely throughout New Zealand, Rachael’s work has received much acclaim internationally, particularly her collaborations for Sydney Biennale (2006), Venice Biennale (2007) and Busan Biennale (2008). www.rachaelrakena.com www.bartleyandcompanyart.co.nz

Taking Time

"Dandy" Lisa Reihana 2007. Image Courtesy Govett-Brewster Gallery

Innovative contemporary Maori artist, Lisa Reihana believes things should take time; hence her latest artistic project Digital Marae was conceived as a project that will evolve over two decades. Reihana (b.1964) is one of New Zealand’s foremost film and multi-media artists and her work has been exhibited internationally and is in a number of major national and international collections. Now we have the additional pleasure of a richly-illustrated volume of her works, Digital Marae/Lisa Reihana, produced by Taranaki’s Govett-Brewster Gallery. Digital Marae explores the concept of the marae (meeting place), which is the traditional place, bound by complex protocols, where Maori come together. Various architectural components of the central wharenui (meeting house) act as conduits for the passing on of traditional knowledge through the paintings, carvings, designs and the tukutuku panels that adorn them. One of the major features of the interior of the wharenui is the pouwhenua – the carved figures that represent individual ancestors. It is these figures that Lisa Reihana has reinterpreted in a contemporary sense, producing haunting life-size photographs of men and women. In 2007 the Govett-Brewster presented the latest incarnation of Digital Marae (the first was in 2001); a suite of new photographs that reference atua (gods) who are male and takatapui (cross-gendered) figures. This publication, edited by Govett-Brewster Director and curator, Rhana Devenport, includes writing by leading Maori architectural historian, Dr Deirdre Brown and cultural theorist and sociologist, Nikos Papastergiadis from the University of Melbourne with Melbourne-based curator-writer, Victoria Lyn and others. Lisa Reihana is currently the Artist-in-Residence at McCahon House in Titirangi, Auckland. She was short-listed for theWalters Prize earlier this year and Digital Marae was short-listed for the 2009 Anne Landa Award in Australia, an acquisitional award for video and new media. Digital Marae/Lisa Reihana is now available through the Govett-Brewster Art & Design Shop, and selected bookstores around New Zealand and Australia. (ISBN 9780908848324; 48 pages; $25). www.govettbrewster.com

Art - Inside and Out

Christchurch. July 2009. Ajr

I was wandering through the Christchurch Arts Centre Market last weekend when I noticed this paint job on the outside of Te Toi Mana Maori Art Gallery, which is where leading Maori carver, Riki Manuel bases himself. In addition to Riki's carving studio, which has a glass wall so you can watch him at work, the gallery also presents a great selection of traditional and contemporary Maori paintings, drawings, crafts and sculptures. I don't remember the building being painted like this on the exterior though. Maybe it's had a facelift in the months I've been out of Christchurch researching and writing Frommers New Zealand? Or maybe some garden greenery has been removed. Not that it matters of course. The good thing is, now you can't miss it!

Cultural Graffiti

I’m a big fan of modern graffiti. I photograph it wherever I go and you can see a lot of it on my other blog – http://adriennerewiimagines.blogspot.com/ Just put graffiti into the search box and you should find heaps if you’re interested. That by way of introduction to this post about Maori-inspired graffiti and a comment I read yesterday on Baruk Feddabonn’s blog, http://bottlebroke.blogspot.com/ In his piece about Maori influences in New Zealand art (rock art and beyond), he says he has “yet to see any graffiti based on Maori/Pacific/Tribal styles.”

I think it depends on how you define “Maori/Pacific/Tribal style” but I have to say I saw quite a lot of Pacific-inspired graffiti in Auckland (understandably given that it is the largest Polynesian city in the world); and these pieces shown here, are from Eastland – Gisborne specifically -which has a large Maori population and a strong Maori cultural identity. They defnitely speak of Maori culture to me. Perhaps that’s what it comes down to – a strong cultural identity. We may be a bicultural country but for many Maori, speaking their own language and strongly identifying with their own culture in everyday life is a relatively new phenomenon. In more remote places like Eastland though, Maori culture has always been at the forefront of daily life and te Reo is spoken more often than English in many areas. Fluent expression in the arts - and yes, that does include graffiti and street art - requires personal confidence, a belief in self and a surety about who you are and where you come from. I think many young Maori in urban areas do create graffiti, but unless they have strong Maori cultural roots, they are more likely to mimic western and most particularly American graffiti styles. These no doubt are seen as being "cooler."

It seems logical to me that Maori living in ‘strong Maori pockets’ would have more confidence in expressing themselves in modern media like graffiti, with some reference to their own culture. You’re unlikely to find graffiti like this for instance, in places like Christchurch, or Parnell where modern Pakeha/western culture dominates. From my experience, graffiti of any sort is always ‘of its place’ one way or another. That is, it expresses the thoughts and culture of those creating it. Therefore, if you want to see Maori/Pacific/Tribal-inspired graffiti, you put yourself in the places that most strongly support individual cultural expression. Almost all the graffiti, street art and murals I photographed in Eastland were based on traditional Maori design elements - some more strongly than others admittedly -and many came from a unique Maori perspective.

Takahanga - A Place By the Sea

Kaikoura. April 2009. Ajr

When you walk through the old whale ribs onto Kaikoura’s Takahanga Marae it’s hard to know which comes as the bigger surprise – the laden apricot trees, the wafting scent of roses, the sight of agapanthus and dahlias rubbing shoulders with cabbage trees and olives, or the giant Neil Dawson feather sculpture swirling in the sea breeze. Sited on an historic pa site above Kaikoura township with panoramic ocean views, the marae and its eleven acres exude a welcoming sense of ‘homestead,’ of inclusiveness. And as you walk through Chris Booth’s geranium-clad stone archway onto a Michael Smither’s stone path, you could be forgiven for thinking you’d entered a sculpture park. In front of the main meeting house a cluster of gigantic totara sculptures created by Maori carver and sculptor, Cliff Whiting and the late Bill Solomon, provide a formal welcome. There are the pottery footsteps made by sculptor Bronwyn Cornish, the screen gifted to the marae by Lyttelton artist, Bill Hammond and inside, a collection of photographs by Wellington’s Ann Noble.

Kaikoura. April 2009. Ajr
On a site that has been occupied by Maori for over 800 years, it’s an unexpected break from tradition. That says Cliff Whiting, was always the intention.
“Back in the 1970s Ngai Tahu recognised that no new marae had been built for a long time and they saw the need to develop their cultural identity. Once the site had been agreed upon with the NZ Historic Places Trust, an archaeological dig was carried out, confirming that the original site was very close to the new plans in development. When it came to developing the garden, the local Ngati Kuri people were very much guided by the presence and preservation of original pallisade mounds,” he says.

Kaikoura, April 2009. Ajr
In a unique departure from tradition, Ngati Kuri, under the guidance of the late Bill Solomon, recognised their shared histories and the fact that since the early 1880s, many of their people had inter-married with Europeans. “Bill got the idea of involving pakeha artists in the development of outside areas and everyone worked together in a very deliberate way to integrate that inclusiveness into the whole marae statement. It was the first marae to do that and while some of the ideas have since been incorporated into Awarua at Invercargill, it remains the quite unique,” says Whiting. (This is an extract from a feature I originally wrote in 2005, published in Urbis Landscapes).

"A Cloak of Words"

"A Cloak of Words" by Lyonel Grant, Rotorua. May 2009. Ajr
Being a writer by profession, I suppose it’s understandable that I would instantly be drawn to works of art that incorporate words. So it was with this marvellous work, “A Cloak of Words,” by Maori sculptor/carver, Lyonel Grant, which is located on a small grassy rise beside Rotorua Museum. According to the accompanying plaque, it was unveiled in June 2001 to mark the new millennium. “Supported by the Millennium Trust and Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust, the Waitukei sculpture was created by Rotorua artist and master carver, Lyonel Grant. His inspiration was the people of this area (Rotorua) and the rich melding of Maori and European cultures. Created in bronze over a two year period, it depicts two symbolic male and female figures.”

Rotorua. May 2009. Ajr
What I especially loved about the work is that the closer you get to it, the more it reveals, for every surface is heavily etched with patterns, words and texture – in much the way a traditional cloak is heavily textured. The colour too, is filled with rich variants of brown, grey, blue and bronze – quite lovely! I’ve added a link to Lyonel Grant’s website here, so you can read about his inspirations and style of work in more depth. www.lyonelgrant.com www.rotoruamuseum.co.nz

Maori Art in the Outreaches

All photos taken in Ruatoria, East Cape. May 2009. Ajr

The tiny East Cape Maori settlement of Ruatoria may be one of the most remote and isolated communities in New Zealand but it doesn't want for bright street art. I particularly loved the paintings on this backstreet building. It was one of several that were emblazoned with colour and creativity. I very much like that in any community. It's a shame it isn't allowed to happen more often in some places.

Iconic Artworks

Auckland. April 2009. Ajr

This photograph is far from good but it hints at the power of Gottfried Lindauer paintings of early New Zealand Maori. I saw these prints, cheaply framed, for sale in a Ponsonby Road secondhand store.

More From Plastic Maori

Shots from Plastic Maori at TheNewDowse, Lower Hutt. April 2009. Ajr

Here's another couple of shots from "Plastic Maori" at TheNewDowse in Lower Hutt - one of the best exhibitions of contemporary Maori art I've seen in ages. If you're in Wellington and have an interest, make sure you make time to see it. www.newdowse.org.nz

A History of Change

All images abve from 'Rangitiratanga' at TheNewDowse, Lower Hutt. April 2009 Ajr

I visited TheNewDowse in Lower Hutt yesterday, to see firsthand, the stunning exhibition Plastic Maori that I wrote about here a week or so ago. I was delighted to discover they are also running another ongoing Maori exhibition, “Rangatiratanga,” which considers the changing face of Maori history. It features the pataka whakairo (carved storehouse), Nukutewhatewha, which was built as part of a political initiative in the 1850s. I read on the gallery’s website that “it was commissioned by paramount chief, Wi Tako Ngatata as a symbol of support for the Kingitanga movement and is one of seven pataka built around the North Island as “Pillars of the Kingdom.” It is a tohu (symbol) of the change that characterizes Maori history and is exhibited in conjunction with a series of big modern banners and profiles of 21st Maori social leaders, artists, scientists and entrepreneurs…...

"Nukutewhatewha - detail,' Neil Pardington. April 2009 Ajr

...........and nearby, you can see the latest work in the gallery’s Hit the Wall series – a project that showcases the work of New Zealand and international graphic designers. The work shown here is ‘Nukutewhatewha’ by Neil Pardington (Ngai Tahu, Kati Mamoe, Kati WaeWae), who is creative director of the award-winning Wellington design company, Base Two. www.newdowse.org.nz www.basetwo.co.nz

Meet the People - 8

Another in the Series Meet the People – Contemporary Maori Doing Ordinary and Extraordinary Things – Christchurch-based Maori artist, Rua Pick (Waitaha, Ngati Ruapekapeka) creates works “of the spirit, for the spirit – timeless stories of sky, land and sea.” Rua grew up in Northland in the Bay of Islands surrounded by Maori myths and legends, the ocean and living traditions. He always had an interest in mythology, whether it be Maori or Greek and his continued interest in the dramas and foibles of the human condition are now played out in oils on canvas. Selwyn Wilson, one of the country’s first Maori art teachers, was influential during his Bay of Islands High School years. Rua later moved to Christchurch (after a two-year stint in Raglan) to study for a year at Ilam School of Fine Arts at Canterbury University.

Now 40, he has been working fulltime as an artist since 2000 and when he’s not painting in his upstairs Toko Mata Studio and Gallery in inner city Christchurch, he’s out exploring the land, “getting a feel for the land where the early stories were set.” One of his favourite spots is the limestone valley of Castle Hill, near Porter’s Pass “considered in Waitaha myth to be Te Whare Kohanga or the sacred nest of the sandstone grandmother. He also visits South Island Maori rock drawing sites, which have been a continuing inspiration for many of his paintings. Rua has exhibited extensively in group and solo shows throughout New Zealand; he’s been a finalist in the Wallace Trust Awards numerous times; and a number of his works illustrated the book “Whispers of Waitaha – Traditions of a Nation.” He’s currently guest artist at a show at Nelson’s Suter Art Gallery (until April 26) and if you click on Rua Pick in the index line below, you’ll see some of the works in his studio stairwell. You’ll also find many more of his paintings on his website - www.ruapick.vc.net.nz

Art in a Studio Stairwell

Rua Pick's Studio, Christchurch. March 2009. Ajr

Christchurch-based Maori artist, Rua Pick has created a colourful approach to his upstairs studio, Toko Mata Gallery (The Visionary Post) in Lichfield Street. I took these photos when I was out walking last week – the lighter canvas is a homage to the ancient Waitaha rock drawings and paintings of the South Island; the bird form, based on the legendary eagle, is acrylic on canvas. Rua was brought up in the Bay of islands and settled in Christchurch in 1992, when he started studies at Ilam School of Fine Arts. He fell in love with the southern land and stayed. Rua is currently preparing for an exhibition of 24 works that will be exhibited at The Suter Te Aratoi o Whakatu in Nelson from April 9 – 26. You can see a range of his paintings by clicking on to his website – www.ruapick.vc.net.nz www.thesuter.org.nz

Maori Art

Maori Art

Image supplied by Tourism Auckland 2007

www.aucklandnz.com

Contemporary Maori Sculpture

Sculpture, Havelock North. 2008. Ajr

It was a cold wet day when I came upon this fountain sculpture by one of New Zealand’s leading senior Maori artists, Para Matchitt (b.1933). It sits in a small square in the Hawke’s Bay town of Havelock North and was commissioned as part of the town’s redevelopment.

Te Huringa / Turning Points

All Images Courtesy of the Fletcher Trust Collection. Captions below.

If you’re in Christchurch before February 15th make sure you get to Christchurch Art Gallery to see the very beautiful exhibition “Te Huringa / Turning Points,” Pakeha Colonisation and Maori Empowerment – an exhibition of paintings from the collections of The Fletcher Trust and Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare O Rehua Whanganui. It’s a big show that includes works by some of New Zealand’s best known artists – both Maori and Pakeha - and the diversity of style and medium represented in “the journey from early European contact, settlement and colonisation through to contemporary perspectives by 20th and 21st century artists” makes for rivetting viewing. There’s something very serene about the whole space. Adding to the multi-layered perspectives is the fact that the show took a bicultural curatorial approach. Dr Jo Diamond is of Ngapuhi Maori descent and is currently lecturer in Maori Art History at the University of Canterbury; and Peter Shaw has been curator of The Fletcher Trust Collection since 1991. Their combined approach to the exhibition catalogue presents a gentle ‘unravelling’ of the spiritual aspects of many of the works by Diamond set against Shaw’s gathering of biographical and historical facts. It’s a nice touch and one I’m sure viewers will appreciate. If you miss the show in Christchurch, it opens at Dunedin Public Art Gallery on March 13 and runs through to July.

Works shown above are all Courtesy of the Fletcher Trust Collection and are: Top: Major-General Sir Horatio Gordon Robley, Tomika Te Mutu, 1866, Watercolour; Centre: John Tole, Maori Village, Rotorua, C.1950, Oil on Board; Bottom: Thomas Allom, Mt Egmont from the North Shore of Cook Straight, New Zealand, natives burning off wood for Potato Grounds, 1841, Watercolour.
www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz www.sarjeant.org.nz www.fletchercollection.co.nz www.dunedin.art.museum

Bouncy Marae

"Bouncy Marae" by Inez Crawford, Christchurch Art Gallery, 2008. Ajr

I love it when contemporary art moves away from the traditional confines of an art gallery and ‘merges’ with everyday life. It goes a long way to breaking down barriers, to making serious art much more accessible to people who would not otherwise bother. This work – “Bouncy Marae,” by Inez Crawford – shown at the Christchurch Art Gallery in 2008 - is a classic example. I sat on the stairs there when it was showing and watched a whole bunch of kids tearing off their shoes so they could leap about inside the ‘sculpture.’ That was the aim of things – to let kids get inside and have fun. It’ was made of PVC and is filled with air, creating an inflatible trampoline like ‘environment.’ Crawford was inspired by her childhood impression that her local marae was a fairytale castle. This ‘bouncy wharenui is chocolate brown on the outside and hot pink on the inside. And didn’t I time it well….just in time to catch a young girl in a hot pink outfit playing inside. www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz

Bridge Art

One of the carved figures
By Hawke’s Bay-based Maori artist, Para Matchitt.
on Wellington's overhead
waterfront pedestrian walkway,
The City To Sea Bridge.

Te Arawa Art

Te Raukura Gallery, Rotorua. Image Supplied by Rotorua Tourism.

The Arawa people have hosted visitors to Rotorua in the central North Island since the 1880s and there’s no better way for them to share their stories and history than through their art. Step into any art gallery in Rotorua and you’ll get a strong sense of Rotorua’s deep Maori heritage; but one that stands out for me is Te Raukura (The Red Feather) Gallery, which specialises in authentic contemporary and traditional Maori art. Owner, June Northcroft Grant (TeArawa, Tuwharetoa, Tuhourangi-Ngati Wahiao) is an artist herself – her works strongly influenced by her tribal histories and tupuna (ancestors) - and she has an extensive knowledge of printmaking, painting, weaving, bone carving and ceramics. She talks about a thriving Maori art scene in Rotorua: “Te Puia is the centre of customary artwork and Tarawhai Carving School at Okataina and the Ngati Whakaue Carving School at Ohinemutu have been a strong part of the community and Maori life since the late 1880s,” she says. "New contemporary works abound too with artists referencing the tupuna art to produce exciting works in paint, clay and other mediums.”