It has been 40 years since a revolutionary exhibition put te ao Māori on the global stage, displaying Māori taonga in New York City.
Kura Moeahu is a cultural advisor as well as the chair of Waiwhetu Marae in Lower Hutt.
He told Saturday Morning that September 10 is a special day.
“It was the day that Te Māori was opened 40 years ago. But it was also the anniversary of the day our meeting house was opened in 1960. Our kōhanga reo was opened on the 10th of September. A lot of the buildings on our land were all opened on the 10th of September.”
If cameras hadn’t famously captured Māori elders performing a sunrise karakia that day 40 years ago, that ancient art form may not have survived, Moeahu said.
“Had it not been for that one incidence, I think we may have been in a different position, still trying to research our karakia tuturu [traditional karakia] today. For me, that is a turning point in the survival of what was nearly lost to the world.”
Opening of Te Māori Exhibition in New York on September 10, 1984. Photo / Supplied / Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
The famous photograph of kaumatua and kuia performing a karakia as they walked up the steps of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art for Te Māori was “really, really pivotal” in keeping the ancient vocal tradition alive and also showing te ao Māori to the world, Moeahu said.
At home, the exhibition sparked a powerful cultural resurgence which is now seen all over today’s vibrant Māori arts scene.
“Te Māori reinvigorated and re-awoke all the arts that had been hiding away quietly.”
After the Te Māori exhibition toured the US from 1984 to 1986, the taonga were returned to New Zealand for a nationwide tour in 1987.
Although most of the artefacts were then returned to the international museums they had come from, Te Māori paved the way for other cultures to put more value on recovering their own indigenous artworks, Moeahu says.
An original poster from Te Maori exhibition. Photo / Alexander Turnbull Library / Courtesy of Mobil New Zealand
“Te Māori has been an example not just for Aotearoa but for the world in terms of repatriation of taonga.”
For Moeahu, the revival of ancient Māori knowledge inspired by Te Māori is the most exciting aspect of the exhibition’s rich legacy.
“Te Māori has enabled new knowledge to evolve from out of the taonga, from ancient knowledge, and it continues to create new knowledge. That’s what Te Māori has done.”
