The house of learning
Chapter Eight constitutes one of the case studies for this thesis. An autobiographical method is applied. It is not a chronological story of an artist but a narrative of the art as visual data in the Taharora Project. This visual data is used to contextualise tribal narrative, historical information together with related whare nui and art developments. This contextualisation demonstrates the extent of the interrelationship between form and content in the art of the Taharora whare nui. The aim of this chapter is to locate the refurbishment of Taharora within related whare nui developments to unveil the tataitanga korero and trans-cultural practice that make the art in Taharora culturally relevant for Maori, and for Ngai Taharora in particular.
It is worth reiterating that the major premise that underlies this thesis that Maori art is a ideological construct that locates art by Maori relative to art by non-Maori within a
tataitanga kaupapa toi, art paradigm of Maori cultural relativity and relevance. For art to remain culturally relevant and to resonate with Maori, trans-cultural art must have as its goal a tataitanga korero in which either take or matauranga informs the art.
In the case of the art in Taharora whare nui visual empathy with 19th century historical models is evident, shaped, not only by a contemporary marae context, but also informed by whakapapa and matauranga Maori. In a liberal accession to the dynamic continuum of customary art, the art inside Taharora maintains visual correspondence with the innovative practices of the marae art of the post 1970s period while the art on the exterior of Taharora maintains visual correspondence with early 20th century Maori carving and painting. Despite this concession to innovative post 1960s additive sculptural processes, and the 19th and 20th century carving and painting of Riwai Pakerau, there is a conscious decision to extend correspondent visual practice with trans-cultural practice in Taharora.482 These trans-cultural practices include bone, clay and bronze inlays. It will be demonstrated that the trans-cultural nature of the whare nui contributed to the decision to push the boundaries of l9th century Ngati Porou practice within the Tairawhiti region. However, the 19th century was not without its innovators in painting and carving. In this regard, the paintings of Riwai Pakerau, along with maihi and amo carvings for Rongomaianiwaniwa at Rahui marae in Tikitiki by Hone Ngatoto, are salient examples of trans-cultural interlocution. Of course, in their time the work of these two artists was non- customary because prior models did not exist.
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The additive sculptural practice of Cliff Whiting and Paratene Matchitt can be traced back to the late 1960’s. The examples of this technique are found in Te Wehenga o Rangi raua ko Papa in the National Library (1969-75) by Cliff Whiting and in Te Whaneketanga o Turongo raua ko Mahinarangi (1976) at the Kimiora whare kai at Ngaruawahia by Paratene Matchitt. This additive sculptural technique, which is thirty years old should rightly be viewed as customary practice.
It was mentioned in the last chapter that I had to return to Waipiro Bay in 2002 to defend the turquoise blue painting of the koruru, maihi and amo of Taharora. The majority of Ngai Taharora supported the outcome and the house remains blue to this day. It was always my intention to paint the house blue in order to carry the colour scheme from inside the house to the outside, and to commemorate the tataitanga whakairo of Riwai Pakerau in the painting and carving on the front of Taharora. Chapter Seven validates the painting and carving in the houses associated with Riwai Pakerau in order to maintain the credibility of Taharoa as a significant endorsement of the Ngai Taharora tataitanga whakairo of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Like all examples of tataitanga whakairo, there is an artist who sets a precedent by initiating conventions and techniques that are adopted or adapted by those who follow consolidating the attributes of the style or extending them. While Riwai Pakerau continued the tataitanga whakairo of Hone Taahu, I have adapted the tataitanga whakairo initiated by Cliff Whiting of Te Whanau a Apanui and Paratene Matchitt of Te Whanau a Apanui, Whakatohea and Ngati Porou. Hence, while the tataitanga whakairo of Hone Taahu can be found on the external carvings of Taharora, the tataitanga whakairo of Riwai Pakerau is evident in the painting of the mahau (porch) and the tataitanga whakairo of Cliff Whiting can be found both inside Taharora and Hinematakaikai. While the tataitanga whakairo of Hone Taahu and Riwai Pakerau maintain an affinity with the customary style of the 18th century, Riwai Pakerau’s painting is non-customary in his adoption of the European naturalistic tradition. In contrast, the style of Cliff Whiting is trans-customary in its collusion of a customary Maori aspective and 20th century modernist traditions.483
The tataitanga korero of Taharoa begins with He ahua whakama that outlines the scheme of the Taharora Project in which the back wall of the whare nui was amended to account for the mana whenua of Hine Matakaikai, after whom the whare kai was named. The major focus of this section is the ramifications of a decision to create sexually explicit ancestral figures that eventually led to the re-carving of the back wall in 1990 with more acceptable gender references.
In He Tataitanga whakawhiti, an Analytical Framework for Cultural Relativity is explained in relation to the indices of whakapapa (genealogy), matauranga (knowledge), ahua (appearance), waihanga (process), wahi (site) and tikanga (protocol). It is proposed that the framework provides a cultural context for examining the implication of the art of Taharora for whakapapa, matauranga and wahi.
In Nga matauranga ki ro Taharora, whakapapa as an index for art analysis is contextualised against the broader implication of whakapapa as a holistic kaupapa Maori principle and as genealogical mandate for belonging. In the process, whakapapa is used to locate me relative to place, people and the environment of the Tairawhiti. This is achieved through references to relevant Maori Land Court claims and a tataitanga korero
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The ‘modernist aesthetic’ resulted in a neo-customary visual vocabulary in which customary forms were simplified and stylised in a minimalist fashion. Particularly influential were the ‘modernist’ artists’ like Pablo Picasso, Henri Moore and Barbara Hepworth.
written by Waho Tibble in which the whakapapa of relevant claimants are tabulated. Riwai Pakerau’s carving and painting style is explained in relation to the porch schema, contextualised against the whare nui on which he worked, and the ideological scheme of trans-cultural painted imagery of Maori and tauiwi in another Ngati Porou whare nui.
In Te Tataitanga tipuna, a change to the whakapapa scheme of Taharora is examined. There was a reconfiguration of the ancestral scheme at the front of the house accompanied by a cultural and historical rationale for this change. The relationship between the left and right hand side of the house is explained within the context of cultural notions of positional relativity.
In Nga korero a Hau, the narrative of Hau, his offspring and his descendents are recorded as tataitanga korero, lineage narratives.
Under Matauranga Maori, it is proposed that Maori knowledge is innately imbedded in the tataitanga korero associated with Taharora because whakapapa as cosmo-genealogical oration and narrative encapsulates the underlying epistemology and ontology of Maori knowledge. This section also examines the cultural translation of the narrative scheme devised by kaumatua and a cosmo-genealogical matrix conceived by me into the unorthodox structure of the house with its internal flat roof, lateral windows and centralised front and rear doors. Trans-customary media and techniques are also contextualised and acknowledged.
TheWahi sub-section examines site in terms of tataitanga kaupapa toi because the sites where art created by Maori are displayed are no longer restricted to Aotearoa New Zealand. Instead, the sites extend to global contexts where Maori are prone to transposing cultural values and protocols embedded in a cultural regard for site. In Taharora,ancestors are located relative to site, mana whenua and the history of settlement of the lands in the vicinity of Ohineakai. Notions of mana atua and mana tangata are examined within the house both vertically and longitudinally.
Although the Taharora Project began as a vision of Merekuia McIlroy the actual physical work of refurbishment did not begin until 1989.484 The realisation of the project was made possible because I was an employee of Waiariki Polytechnic in Rotorua in the central North Island, which, at the time, was offering a Diploma in Craft Design Maori. An integral part of the programme was a master artist scheme, which allowed students to work off site with a master craftsman or artist. Consequently, a proposal was submitted to the Polytechnic to consider the possibility of a wananga system in which I became the master artist responsible for directing a group of students, off-campus at Mihikoinga marae. The aim of the wananga was to complete two dinning room murals for Hinematakaikai and the interior rear wall of the ancestral house Taharora. Under this
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For the sake of convenience the work for Mihikoinga dining room and Taharora meeting house will be referred to as the Taharora Project. Merekuia McIlroy is my grandmother and great, great granddaughter of Riwai Pakerau. It had been her dream to have one of her grandchildren finish ‘the house that Riwai built’. While she lived to see the completion of the dinning room murals and the first version of the internal rear wall of the whare nui. She did not live to see the completion of the full interior completed in 1990.