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The author of a new book on East Coast carving says it's a way to track the social history of the region and the people's responses to change.
Ngarino Ellis says she has long had an interest in whakairo, and a fellow scholar pointed out that the carvings of the region had been relatively under-researched.
A Whakapapa of Tradition: 100 years of Ngati Porou carving covers the period 1830, when European contact starts to impact, up to 1930 and the national revival instigated by Sir Apirana Ngata.
The East Coast experienced its own revival in the late 1700s under the influence of the carver Iwirakau, but Ngapuhi raids of the 1820s means only a few examples survive before the carved churches that started appearing in the 1840s.
"But it was only in the 1850s and 60s that we see carving and the carved house coming through strongly and that is for a whole lot of reasons like the Native Land Court, the Maori Land Court and hapu wanting to asset their distinct identity to say 'we are ahi kaa, we belong here", Dr Ellis says.
A Whakapapa of Tradition: 100 Years of Ngati Porou Carving is published by Auckland University Press.
Copyright © 2016, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
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