Te Ao Hurihuri

Elizabeth Ellis, Ralph Hotere, Kāterina Mataira, Para Matchitt, Selwyn Muru, Buck Nin, Cliff Whiting, Pauline Yearbury

Ground-breaking Māori art historian Professor Jonathan Mane-Wheoki once referred to Te Tai Tokerau as “the crucible of Māori Art”. This exhibition at the Wairau Māori Art Gallery looks to honour this notion by presenting, here in Whangārei, works made by some of our most celebrated Māori artists. These artists and their legacy represent a resonant call that has influenced contemporary artists for decades and promises to inspire generations into the future.

For Te Ao Hurinui, which references the idea of an ever-changing world, Wairau Māori Art Gallery has partnered with Whangārei Art Museum to utilise their significant collection. Through a selection of key works this exhibition references a transformative period in Aotearoa's art history and these visionaries of the modern Māori art movement who disrupted the creative scene and forged a pathway for the contemporary Māori art we know today.

Hei tā te Toi Huarewa hitōria toi Māori aronga whanokē i a Jonathan Mane-Wheoki i tētahi wā ko Te Tai Tokerau “te oko whakawera o te toi Māori”. Ko tēnei whakaatūranga ka titiro kia whakahōnore i tēnei whakaaro mā te tohatoha, ki Whangārei nei, i ētahi mahi i hangatia e ētahi a o tātou tino ringa toi Māori kua whakanuitia. Ko ēnei ringa toi me a rātou whakarerenga iho ake ka whakarite i tētahi karanga pākuru kua whakamana i ngā ringa toi onāianei mō ngā tau ngāhurutanga me tōna kupu taurangi kia  whakaohooho tairea taketake noa ki te apōpōtanga.  

Mō Te Ao Hurihuri, ko tāna ka totoro i te whakaaro o tētahi Ao Hurihuri, ka whakahoahoa a Te Huarewa Toi Māori Wairau me Te Whare Tiaki Taonga Toi o Whangārei ki te whakamahi i tā rātou kohikohinga whakahirahira. Mā roto i tētahi kohinga mahi matua ko tēnei whakaatūranga ka tohutoro i tētahi wā whakaahua ki roto i te hītoria toi o Aotearoa me ētahi matakite o te tainekeneke toi Māori i tihahu i te kāpeka auaha, ka hura ara mō te toi Māori onāianei e mōhiotia ana e tātou ki te rangi nei.

Image:
Buck Nin
Through the Mists of Time [Culture survives],
c.1990,
Oil on board

Collection of Whangārei Art Museum

The Wairau Māori Art Gallery is the first dedicated public Māori art gallery in Aotearoa.

It joins a select group of public indigenous art galleries internationally and is housed within the stunning new Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangārei. Hundertwasser himself proposed plans for the building before he passed away in 2000.

The name ‘Wairau’ is Te Reo Māori for One Hundred Waters, just as Hundertwasser means One Hundred Waters in the German language. In Te Ao Māori the notion of multiple waters has deep symbolic meaning since water is the basis of all living things.

Wairau Māori Art Gallery celebrates and showcases the best of contemporary Māori art and customary practice in Aotearoa.