Rare showing of Kahungunu portraits

Curator Ngatai Huata with a selection of photographic portraits of Ngati Kahungunu tipuna (ancestors).

A remarkable exhibition of photographic portraits of Ngati Kahungunu is on display at Hastings Community Art Centre.

Organised and curated by Ngati Kahungunu Iwi, the exhibition showcases portraits of Kahungunu tipuna (ancestors) from the 1800s through until 2015.

Titled Kahungunu Taikura Kurupounamu, the four-week exhibition is timed to coincide with the Te Matatini Kapa Haka Festival in Hastings from February 22-26.

Hosted by Ngati Kahungunu Iwi, the biennial event is the largest kapa haka festival in the world, with 48 teams from Australia and New Zealand travelling to Hastings to compete in the final.

Curator Ngatai Huata says the portrait exhibition aligns with three significant Kahungunu events, including Te Matatini, Waitangi Day and Matariki.

"The exhibition will commemorate, honour and celebrate Kahungunu tipuna intrinsic to each of these three allied events," Ms Huata said.

The exhibition centres on a significant collection of photographic portraits of Ngati Kahungunu taken by Samuel Carnell from 1870-1906.

Carnell was a Hawke's Bay photographer who served briefly as a member of parliament and mayor of Napier.

His purpose-built studio in Shakespeare Rd, Napier was the largest of its kind in Australasia and was patronised by several prominent people from Ngati Kahungunu, including Henare Tomoana, Karaitiana Takamoana and Arihi Te Nahu.

Although many of his Maori portrait negatives were lost, about 250 dating from 1870-1906 were retained by the photographer and preserved by his descendants. These were presented to the Alexander Turnbull Library by his grandson in 1963.

The Hawke's Bay Cultural Trust developed the negatives as full-size photographs in 1999 and an exhibition, titled Kahungunu Ka Moe Ka Puta, was held at Hastings Exhibition Centre. It later toured the Alexander Turnbull Library and the Kahungunu areas of Wairarapa and Wairoa, where many of the portrait subjects were identified.

Ms Huata describes the portraits as "a Kahungunu treasure chest".

The photographs mark a period of enormous cultural, social and political upheaval and the health demise of Ngati Kahungunu society. Despite this, Ms Huata says the portraits are optimistic.

"We do not see despair, defeat or surrender in these portraits. We see stern poses, steely determination, sinewy pride, and glitters of optimism."

In conjunction with the exhibition, descendants will host a Kauwhau Lecture Series, where they will share their stories, and perform their waiata, moteatea, and haka of their ancestors.

Ms Huata says the exhibition is an important celebration of Ngati Kahungunu's evolution on the world stage, leading out in the fields of cultural performance, sports and international relations.

"These are the catalysts, the activators, the innovators, the motivators and the trail-blazers of our Ngati Kahungunu, Takitimu waka tipuna."

Exhibition:
Kahungunu Taikura Kurupounamu
Hastings Community Art Centre, 106 Russell St South, Hastings
On until March 13, 2017. Monday-Friday from 9.30am-4pm, Saturday 10am-2pm.