He ata ki runga, he ata ki raro
He ata ki te whakatūtū
He ata ki te whakaritorito
He ata whiwhia, he ata rawea
He ata taonga, he ata raukura
Ngataiharuru Taepa (Te Arawa, Te Āti Awa) presents Pou Rongoā, featuring the commanding three-panel kōwhaiwhai work He ata ki runga, he ata ki raro (2020), originally commissioned for the landmark exhibition Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art curated by Nigel Borrell for Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
In the accompanying exhibition catalogue for Toi Tū Toi Ora, Borrell writes,
Mystifying and mesmerising, it was inspired by the concepts found in karakia, or prayers and chants, that pertain to wānanga - ideas about knowledge acquisition, growth and learning. As these kōwhaiwhai patterns meander across the picture plane, their form a horizon line that is envisaged as the start of a new dawn, a new era and time.
Taepa has exhibited his work extensively both nationally and internationally and is represented in signifcant private and public collections including Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, and Auckland War Memorial Museum. His practice includes installation that looks at issues within contemporary society, as well as paintings and wood works that are fueled by a longstanding fascination with kōwhaiwhai.
Another word for kōwhaiwhai is tuhituhi, which is the māori word we now use for writing. Kōwhaiwhai was the writing of our ancestors. That's the way they decided to describe what they saw in the world through the written language of tuhituhi or kōwhaiwhai. I'm quite conscious that this art form pre-dates, in our culture, the written word and part of my master’s study was to examine the impact that the written word had on our visual culture and on understanding kōwhaiwhai as a visual language.
- Ngataiharuru Taepa in kōrero with Kahutoi Te Kanawa (Curator Pou Ārahi) for Auckland War Memorial Museum, 2022.
Read a response from Matariki Williams (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Hauiti, Taranaki). .
