Exhibition highlights pioneering Māori modernism creatives

A new reading room and exhibition area has opened at Te Herenga Mātauranga Whānui General Library, with its first exhibition highlighting pioneering creatives who helped revolutionise the development of Māori modernism.

The Cultural Collections team has opened the doors to the space on the library’s mezzanine level, which coincided with the introduction of the team’s new te reo Māori name, He Māra Mahara, meaning ‘garden of memories’. 

The He Māra Mahara reading room (previously located on the ground floor) is a space where researchers can physically access the material cared for by the team’s specialist kaitiaki.

The new exhibition area, which will display physical and digital material, allows He Māra Mahara to bring together diverse items from the collections and weave together previously untold stories in an exhibition programme that will run throughout the year.

Responding to its educational setting, the inaugural exhibition is titled Tuakana–teina and was curated by Cultural Collections team members Madeleine Gifford, Huni Mancini and Jo Birks.

Tuakana–teina centres on a handful of creatives who were influential in the development of Māori modernism and sparked a renewed celebration of Māori tradition across the fields of art, architecture and design from the mid-twentieth century onwards.

‘Tuakana–teina’ refers to the relationship and exchange of knowledge between two people who take on the roles of mentor and mentee. Traditionally used in reference to older and younger siblings, these roles can also be interchangeable within teaching and learning contexts. This involves knowledge often flowing both ways between peers, younger and older, and experienced practitioners and learners.

The exhibition features taonga, artworks, and archival and published material related to Maureen Lander, Pakariki Harrison, Pauline Yearbury, Rewi Thompson and Ralph Hotere. The chosen works exemplify the spirit of reciprocity and knowledge sharing evident between Māori creatives during the period.

These five practitioners have each embodied the tuakana role, either directly as educators or through their lasting influence on their contemporaries and younger generations of Māori artists.

Surprising connections between the five also highlight the reciprocal nature of tuakana–teina relationships, demonstrating some of the ways that each of these pioneers have equally been in the teina role, often for each other.

Among the material included are Maureen Lander’s 1984 research report ‘Techniques for the preparation of flax fibre by traditional Māori methods, and samples’, and Pauline and James Yearbury’s incised wooden panel artwork How Maui Made the Sun Go Down (1976).

The practitioners themselves feel omnipresent in the exhibition through a selection of historic photographs, and video and audio recordings. These include episodes from the television series Tagata Tangata from 1996 that feature master carver Pakariki Harrison.

Students, staff and external visitors are welcome in the new space to enjoy Tuakana–teina until 13 February 2025 (open Monday to Friday, 11am-4.30pm). Further Cultural Collections information can be found on the library website: auckland.ac.nz/cultural-collections

Madeleine Gifford, Huni Mancini and Jo Birks