The whare (house) and marae (courtyard) are where we welcome people, mourn our dead, celebrate special occasions and hang the portraits of our ancestors among carvings, woven panels and painted ceilings.
Our whare are works of art from top to bottom, and are whare taonga (treasure houses) in their own right, each of them unique.
To enter into a whare, one needs to go through the process of the powhiri (formal welcome), where a common connection between visitor and host is ascertained, and the hospitality of the people is determined.
As such, it is often rare for people outside the hapu to see inside a whare, yet this is where the magic of the Maori museum comes to life, where whanau are the curators of art, genealogies and histories.
I could not agree more with Ngahuia about the perception of our whare as a Maori museum, however, the fundamental challenge for museology practitioners is to link the two, where people feel as comfortable at the museum as they would at their ancestral house, and taonga are displayed in absolute context to the environment and histories of the hapu.
Currently at MTG, Iwi Toi Kahungunu's exhibition Tuturu, curated by Sandy Adsett, is a great example of how to transform a gallery to look and, more importantly, feel, like a whare.
The walls are lined with bright and vibrant tukutuku panels alternating with artworks, underpinned by a progressing colour palette that gives a sense of moving from the dark to the light.
He Manu Tioriori: Songbirds is another exhibition where the interior World War I paintings from the whare Houngarea at Pakipaki are a central feature, reflecting the deep patriotism of the Maori of Heretaunga as members of the British Empire.
The paintings give warmth and vibrancy to the gallery while setting the scene for the waiata that developed there.
The paintings are of the flags of Belgium, Malta, France, Britain, Russia, Australia and New Zealand, emblazoned above figures that represent the Maori Pioneer Battalion - this wall is a history lesson in itself.
Both of these exhibitions are examples of how we bring the whare into the museum, and this is done with integrity and respect for what a whare stands for.
Yet that challenge remains as to how we take the museum to the hapu, enabling a closer relationship between whanau and taonga.
This is a worthwhile challenge, spurred by a thought-provoking conference with a theme of inclusion.
So in the spirit of inclusion, we open the doors to our house on Sunday, June 25, as a free day to mark the Maori New Year, and invite you to come and experience the warmth of our exhibitions and the stories they tell.
We will be livestreaming the Kaumatua Kapa Haka from the Matariki Festival at Te Papa and will have an exciting programme of activities and floortalks throughout the day, nau mai, haere mai.
• Charles Ropitini is Pou Arahi, strategic Maori adviser, at the Museum Theatre Gallery (MTG) Hawke's Bay.
