Plans have been made to return noted art historian and curator Jonathan Ngarimu Mane-Wheoki to his hau kainga.
Professor Mane-Wheoki, from Ngapuhi, Te Aupouri, and Ngati Kuri died on Friday at Mercy Hospice in Auckland of pancreatic cancer. He was 70.
Auckland Art Gallery director Rhana Devenport says he was a brilliant and strong Maori voice in art history, architecture, fine arts education, cultural exchange and critical writing.
He was powerful supporter and advocate for contemporary Maori art practice.
Professor Mane-Wheoki spent much of his career in Christchurch as senior lecturer in art history and dean of music and fine arts at the University of Canterbury before becoming director of art and collection services at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
From 2009 to 2011 he headed Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland.
A Requiem Mass for Jonathan Ngarimu Mane-Wheoki will be held at Holy Trinity Cathedral on Saturday, after which he will take his final journey north to Piki Te Aroha Marae, in Horeke, with a funeral service on Sunday.
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