“We weren't taught about it. There was just an awareness from the hīkoi (march), hearing people talk about it and seeing some of that national angst come on February 6 each year.”
On September 14, 1975, a hīkoi led by Dame Whina Cooper began in Northland with eyes set on Wellington. The group marched on the capital to protest land alienation and cultural loss.
The hīkoi started with 50 members and swelled, along with media coverage, as they travelled down the country.
One month and 1000km later, the group reached Wellington, armed with a petition signed by 60,000 people from around New Zealand.
The same year the Waitangi Tribunal was established to investigate Crown actions that breached promises made in the Treaty of Waitangi.
Historian Michael King argued establishment of the tribunal created a pervasive voice that would hold the Government to account, that is, once it could look back retrospectively.
But when the tribunal was first established it could only look at breaches from 1975 when the Treaty of Waitangi Act was signed into law.
Unsurprisingly, “little public notice was taken of its operations”, wrote King.
That was until 1985 when its powers of inquiry changed so it could look back to 1840.
Since then the Tribunal's inquiries have changed New Zealand society, from giving radio waves to iwi and placing indigenous rights into trade policy. Although its findings are only recommendations, they hold weight.
All of this from a document only 397 words short.
“Time goes by and you realise there are only three articles. I thought it was this massive, legal, complicated thing,” said Peters.
It was a joy delving into the work and researching the history of the document, he said.
Peters is used to research. As well as being an artist, he spent over 30 years using the title “Dr” in front of his name.
In the 1990s he invented devices and methods to allow keyhole cardiac surgery, registered multiple patents and worked at Stanford University. That seems like another life ago, he said. Now he makes art.
Not only is the Treaty our founding document that should be better understood, Peters says, but the piece of paper can be used as an object to travel through time to the characters, places and challenges faced by those present in 1840.
“The whole idea of the hīkoi was to bring it into awareness. Then the Waitangi Tribunal was set up, so it clearly has been brought up and brought into consciousness. It's on the table.”
Peters says this work is his way of continuing to bring up the subject.
“I'm just highlighting, reflecting and giving others the opportunity to reflect.”
Balancing Peters' work in the gallery, artist Tawhai Rickard's bicultural pop-art mixes Māori and Victorian England and draws viewers further into the space with his eye-catching sculpture and paintings.
If the point of art is to make you think, art inside Paul Nache Gallery has succeeded.
Other than personally reflecting on the document, Peters wants others to see the Treaty in a new light.
The copies of the Treaty in Wellington are torn, holed, worn and faded.
“We have that tatty bit of paper that was clearly disregarded for a long time.”
These copies were disregarded for decades by successive governments — forgotten about in basements, nearly lost to fire and partially eaten by rats.
Peters wanted to create a copy of the Treaty that could be on display so people could absorb, visualise and be near.
“Part of this painting is reflecting on the Treaty and not just looking in the mirror, but also through the mirror from another side, because there are two parties in this treaty.
“You start to see there are other sides of the story from what we were presented with as children.”
Asked how he went into the subject knowing it could be a hot topic, Peters said it was not something to shy away from.
“It is signed by two parties, tangata whenua (Māori) and the tangata Ingarihi (the English).”
As a member of the English side who signed Te Tiriti, the document is important to him.
“It's as important to me as it is to anybody else, but I'm aware of the fact it's a hot potato.”
He says the Treaty, in English or te reo, is not just a Māori document but is “relevant to the whole country”.
Although the artwork on the wall is finished, Peters is not.
“I'm a student of this history and I'm exploring it myself. This is just the start of it, not the end.”
