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REVIEW Kia Kaha: A storybook of Māori who changed the world
REVIEW
limiting these shows to traditional gallery space, is something the group thinks should happen more often. “Public works like Shona and Matt’s remind us that te taiao is the starting point for much of our world view. When we share space with art and environment simultaneously, we see one reflecting the other. Like the tōtara in Matt’s Above Ground – as you enter the gardens you can greet a number of tōtara at different ages and stages. Walking through Matt’s work, the capacity and function of those rākau are revealed. You experience not just one artist’s perspective, but the tōtara’s position as tohu, resource, and entity. It’s a great example of how respect and reciprocity, which are so integral to our relationship to taiao, can be lived and felt through art.”
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The space gives people a place to access and contemplate mātauraka Māori in an environment that is welcoming, safe and uplifting. One of the key messages the group wanted to convey was that knowledge regenerates.
“It’s clear that through the ongoing process of being colonised we have lost so much, especially our reo. I wanted to acknowledge that loss and offer a sense of hope about the regrowth of our language, which those before us have worked so hard to preserve, for future generations,” says Mya. Incorporating waiata from Kotahi Mano Kāika, and having access to Kāi Tahu pukapuka in the reading nook allows visitors to immerse themselves further into te ao Māori and the ability to take knowledge away with them to share with whānau and friends.
He Reka te Kūmara is a stunning exhibition which beautifully displays the limitless facets of mātauraka Māori. Piupiu, Madison, Mya and Aroha say this is the beginning of exhibitions like this. “My hope is that the amount of people engaging with te ao Māori continues to grow beyond individuals, and becomes a given way of working amongst groups at all levels of the ‘art world’ and outside of it.”
He Reka te Kūmara is running at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery until February 27.
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REVIEW NĀ ILA COUCH
There is something undeniably special about Kia Kaha: A storybook of Māori who changed the world. The kaupapa of having Māori writers and Māori illustrators come together to tell Māori stories is easy to get behind and when I picture rangatahi sitting down with this pukapuka or parents picking a chapter to read aloud at bedtime, I also imagine the collective mauri of everyone involved in the living and telling of these stories.
Like Stacey Morrison, I grew up thinking history happened on the other side of the world. My heroes were Anne Frank and Joan of Arc and our high school curriculum just seemed to confirm that nothing of interest happened here in New Zealand. As it turns out we were not the only colonised country in the world to have the events that shaped us hidden from us. This book, co-authored by Stacey Morrision (Te Arawa, Ngāi Tahu) and Jeremy Sherlock (Tainui, Ngāti Awa), serves as a starting point when it comes to introducing our younger readers to events that impacted our lives as Māori, and to our own heroes – past and present.
While some chapters serve as a jumping off point for a deeper dive into history, profiles like the one about author Witi Ihimaera immediately activate the imagination. It makes sense that as a young boy he saw the walls of his bedroom as a blank page on which to write. Graphic artist msmeemo depicts floating whales swirling around Witi and his open book, showing how someone else’s words can enter into our imagination and manifest themselves as illustrations, and in images on the big screen.
I was two decades into my career as a camera woman/visual storyteller before I learned about industry pioneers Merata Mita and Ramai Hayward (the latter is not included in this edition of Kia Kaha). I hope when my cousin’s kids, who range in age from four to 14, get their copy of Kia Kaha they find inspiration in the stories they find. The book has also served as a reminder to call my Aunties to spend time recording their stories. As Stacey writes: “We hope that Kia Kaha encourages you to look at your own whānau, your own ancestors … treasure the inspiration that you take from their lives, as you go forward and make your own difference in the world.”
Ila Couch (Ngāi Tahu - Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke) has maintained her ties to home by writing and making short films for TE KARAKA magazine. After two decades working in television production in the UK and USA, she has returned home with the intention of doing a deep dive into her Māoritanga and Ngāi Tahutanga. Having spent a year in Tāmaki Makaurau, Ila is in the process of relocating to Ōtautahi. Opinions expressed in REVIEWS are those of the writers and are not necessarily endorsed by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu.
