May 04, 2017
Whare in bronze makes powerful statement
Te Puia, The New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua, has unveiled a bronze whatarangi destined for the United Nations in New York.
The 4 tonne, 3.5 metre high storehouse will be gifted by the Iwi Chairs Forum to demonstrate support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Maori Tu project chair Sir Tumu te Heuheu says the gift will raise awareness of the importance of the declaration to iwi Maori and Aotearoa New Zealand, and help nurture the relationship between indigenous peoples and the United Nations.
Te Puia chief executive Karl Johnstone says students led by tumu whakairo James Rickard carved the house in wood which formed the basis for the bronze casts.
He says it tells a story of Maori resiliance, which Te Puia is part of.
"Apirana Ngata made a statement around arts and culture being the pillars of our identity and that was very much around the revival of whare and the need for whare to define our tribal structures into the future so the original carving school was set up in 1926 on the back I guess of the loss of kowledge that occurred from the Tohunga Suppression Act and this is another statement about honouring those pillars of identity as we move forward in a globalised sense," Mr Johnstone says.
The whatarangi is undergoing enginnering tests, and the Iwi Chairs Forum is finalising details with the UN about when it will be gifted.
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