Te Maori continues to enthrall

Tu Tangata, Issue 21, 1 December 1984, Page 19

Te Maori continues to enthrall

na K. Katene in New York

Sending an exhibit of traditional Maori artefacts to New York was perhaps one of the hardest, yet worthwhile decisions the Maori people have made. Simply entitled Te Maori, the exhibit has done more to inform the world of the artistic heritage of the Maori, as well as bring the people and culture under close scrutiny than any other single event in recent years.

The idea to send an exhibit of Maori art overseas originiated ten years ago, it was considered too risky and therefore opposed for many years. Then in 1980 the Maori people agreed that an exhibition would travel overseas, but on one condition: the Maori people would perform the welcome ceremony for the artefacts before the exhibit opened to the public. The organisers agreed, and three months ago, a group of tribal leaders from the Ngapuhi, Waikato and Taranaki regions arrived in New York for the opening ceremony of the Te Maori exhibit. It was scheduled to take place at the museum on Monday September 10 at sunrise.

Shortly after 6 am on the morning of the ceremony the group, which included the Minister of Maori Affairs, Mr Koro Wetere, Maori elders and other dignataries and guests from New Zealand, gathered on Fifth Avenue outside the metropolitan museum.

Five kuia climbed to the top of the stairs of the museum, nearby two warriors in piupius crouched, taiaha’s in hand ready to do the wero. After years of anticipation, the waiting was finally over.

At 6.30 am the voice of the first kuia rose above the pandomonium of traffic and beckoned the procession forward. The karanga was answered and then repeated two more times. Pita Sharpies and Kereti Rautangata rose on top on

the balls of their feet and jabbed the air with taiaha. Then the group made its way up the windy stairs and through the huge doors of the museum. Lead by Henare Tuwhangai, the group continued chanting as they passed the Egyptian display along the corridors then up to the second floor to the gallery where the Te Maori exhibit was being presented.

The New Zealand officials, guests and press who were waiting, suddenly became quiet when the group arrived. The spokesmen for the group included Henare Tuwhangai (spokesman for the Maori Queen], Sir James Henare and the Minister of Maori Affairs, Mr Koro Wetere. The speakers spoke the welcome to the Maori artefacts and then reverted to english to address museum officials. After their whaikorero, the speakers lead the group in a song. The American press remarked, how to their own surprise the moment was very emotional, and the Maori’s weren’t the only ones that had to remove their glasses and wipe their eyes once the singing began.

Following the Minister of Maori Affairs address, the museum officials were given the opportunity to reply. They reassured the Maori elders that the art work would be treated with respect and well cared for in the gallery. When the speeches were through the group sang Tama Ngakau Marie, and a short prayer was offered, signalling what seemed to be the end of the ceremony. However, Pita and Kereti broke in to a haka. Pita explained, “We wanted to consummate the ceremony, to say we agree with each other, and to say that in the sculpture is us, and our ancestors.”

Soon after the haka the Maori elders and dignatories moved forward to greet the museum officials with the traditional hongi, and the dawn ceremony was over. The Te Maori exhibition was officially launched and guests, museum workers and press were invited around the exhibit.

Te Maori comprised 174 carvings sculptures and carvings in wood, stone,

jade, bone, ivory and shell dating from the 1000 to 1800’s. The pieces ranged in size from the monumental Pukerua gateway to the small greenstone tiki. Some of the objects were fragmentary and shown in isolation, like the carved panels of the pataka, intricately carved lintils along with paddles with no canoe and a gateway leading to nowhere. Nevertheless, these architectual sculptures and carvings were viewed with the trauma that many commented upon.

The highlight of the exhibit was the carved wooden post, almost nine feet tall, known as Uenuku. According to legend, it is the dwelling place for the guardian spirit of the Waikato people. At the opening, green leaves had been placed around the base, and Henare Tuwhangai sought the blessing of the ancestral god and asked that peace would reign.

The leaves in Central Park had changed colour and most of them fallen to the ground at the opening, but the leaves around Uenuku remained green replaced periodically by John Te Kaho the Maori security guard at the museum. The crowds have not yet dwindled, as people seemed drawn by the mysticism of some of the art work. And expressions of amazement and delight could be heard from those experiencing Maori art for the first time. As well Americans interest in the Maori people and culture has been aroused.

The dawn ceremony showed Americans that these artefacts are more than just art to the Maori people, that they were in fact symbols of identity. Once this was realised, proper respect and appreciation was afforded the art.

Te Maori has and will continue to impress an awareness of the artistic heritage of the Maori people abroad. And for the Maori living in New York like myself, Te Maori is a reminder of who I am and where I come from. John Rangihau described his feelings perfectly, while his mokopuna lay sleeping in his arms, he spoke saying, “although you are a child of this world, your roots are still big in Ruatahuna, you are this (referring to the art) and they are you, your inheritance.