Maureen Lander doing her bit in the "Star Waka" project for Tuia 250 last year. Photo / Supplied
Maureen Lander doing her bit in the "Star Waka" project for Tuia 250 last year. Photo / Supplied
QBDAY_BANNER
The scariest moment of Dr Maureen Lander's life was walking into a school art class of fifth formers as an adult student.
She was 30 years old and had been a primary school teacher for 10 years but had a newfound realisation that her passion lay in the arts.
Littledid she know this would be the start of her journey to becoming an international identity in the realm of raranga (weaving) and installation arts.
"I truly never could have imagined my work would ever be on display."
It was here she picked up the passion and skills in weaving and various cultural art forms that would change her life.
She had never had a huge interest in her heritage until she moved to England for a brief time and realised she did not know enough about her whakapapa.
"Delving into Māori art was part of my search for my own identity."
Maureen Lander and her family at the Te Waka Toi Awards 2019. Photo / Supplied
As the years followed, Lander went on to attend Elam School of Fine Arts and went on to display her work for the first time in an exhibition of Māori women's art.
"It was mostly men in the art world at that time... weaving was not even thought of as an art form."
She began to perfect her skills in whatu kākahu (cloak-making) after teachings from Diggeress Te Kanawa and before long, her work was being shown in a number of exhibitions locally and internationally.
In 2002, Lander gained a doctorate in Fine Arts from Auckland University, the first person of Māori descent to gain a doctorate in Fine Arts from a New Zealand university.
Her works have been shown in key exhibitions including Pu Manawa at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and Pasifika Styles at the University of Cambridge's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
