SummaryToitū Te Moana presents new work by Maia Wharewera-Ballard and Te Ao Hinekou Mihaere Wharewera (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Pukeko, Te Whānau-Ā-Apanui, Ngāti toa); Atareta Black (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa, Ngāti Ruapani); Lanae Cable (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Pūkeko, Ngāti Maru ki Hauraki, Tūhoe); Te Ara Minhinnick (Ngāti Te Ata); and Kahurangiariki Smith (Te Arawa, Tainui, Takitimu, Horouta and Mataatua).
Image by Lanae Cable
“Tupu te toi, ora te toi, whanake te toi, te toi i ahu mai i Hawaiki nui, Hawaiki roa, Hawaiki paamamao.”
Hawaiki, the ancestral homeland, is the beginning point for Toitū Te Moana, and the place from which the artists’ mātauranga, their knowledge, descends.
These artists engage with ngā taonga tuku iho via a range of media from uku, harakeke, and whenua to plastic, performance, moving image and wānanga. Coming together to work collaboratively for Toitū Te Moana, they bring together our own whakapapa, embodied knowledge, and experiences to reflect upon shared histories within Aotearoa and beyond, to Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.
Toitū Te Moana | Artists Spotlight
The six wahine behind Toitū Te Moana kōrero about how they developed the show and their collaborative approach to bringing their ideas to life in the gallery.
“By making mahi toi we embody the mātauranga of our tūpuna. It is what connects us to the waters of Te Moana-nui, to each other as Tangata Whenua and further as Tangata Moana. Much like our tūpuna traveling across the moana, the artists travelled from their respective kāinga to meet together ā tinana at Tautai. Finally bringing the mahi together in the space to retrace, remember and rejoin our whakapapa as Māori, as Tangata Moana.”
—Toitū Te Moana collective artist statement
Meet the Artists
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![Maia Wharewera-Ballard and Te Ao Hinekou Mihaere Wharewera]()
Maia Wharewera-Ballard and Te Ao Hinekou Mihaere Wharewera
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![Atareta Black]()
Atareta Black
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![Lanae Cable]()
Lanae Cable
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![Te Ara Minhinnick]()
Te Ara Minhinnick
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![Kahurangiariki Smith]()
Kahurangiariki Smith
