He Mauri

'He MAURI ‘the life force, the vital essence...’ is an exhibition specifically designed for the foyer of the Ockham building Modal (cnr Asquith and New North Roads, Mt Albert). Mauri partly means life force and this show looks at the mauri in wānanga ‘ancestral narratives’, in whenua ‘the land’ and in wai ‘water’.

At a very early stage of its history ōwairaka 'Mt Albert' witnessed the visit of Puhi-Moana-Ariki. Awa Waitītiko ‘mudsnail river’ which now winds its way past the near present-day Modal, but underground, was too narrow for the waka hourua ‘double hulled’ ancestral waka Mataatua to navigate. The vessel was moored in the Waitematā Harbour probably at nearby Waitango ‘Waterview’. Puhi had left the Bay of Plenty rohe ‘region’ after fighting with Toroa, his tuākana ‘older brother’ over planting rites and issues of mana. I like to think that Puhi, and the wider whānau whanui that accompanied him, carried plants when he visited or left his sister Wairaka near the maunga we know today as ōwairaka. What was his kōha? Perhaps some of the kūmara tubers over which he had fought.

Puhi and Wairaka’s whānau were from Hawaiki (tribal accounts meantion Rangiātea, Rarotonga and the Kermadecs - the latter suggesting a possible link with Tonga) and I don’t doubt that they also initially tried to grow many plants from their tropical homelands including the banana. Today Aucklanders live in these suburbs for large portions of their lifetimes. It is comforting to think that many centuries ago proto Polynesian ancestors also lived, laughed, planted gardens, conducted rituals and made their homes here on the slopes of the volcanic maunga under whose shadows we still reside.

He Mauri video

In order to tell these very particular and evocative stories I have chosen the prussian blue of cyanotype (an alternative photographic process that relies on the uv light of the sun and on water for processing) and paintings on cut-out timber to allude to our Pacific connections through the Mataatua and the life-force of the plants and people that the vessel carried prior to Puhi and his whānau whanui finally settling in Te Tai Tokerau (Northland). The waka is said to rest in Te Kopua Kawai Rangatira o te Whakaheke ‘the spring of noble descent’ on Tākou River, Te Tai Tokerau (Northland) north of Kerikeri. That puna and the puna connected with Wairaka locally resonate in their respective wānanga ‘narrative’. The local landscape is still imbued with the mauri of this ancestral whānau and their relationship with ngā puna ‘local springs’, with ngā maunga ‘mountains’, ngā rākau whai hua ‘fruiting trees’ and hua whenua ‘edible plants grown in the soil’.

He MAURI opens at Modal, 5 April and runs until 24 April, 2024. It is sponsored by the Albert Eden Arts and hosted by Ockham. Dr Rangihīroa Panoho will be giving a talk online for Toi Tūpoto on the 12 April 2024 which will open up and expand on the kaupapa of the exhibition and his visual practice which includes writing.