Wairau Māori Art Gallery to open in Whangārei in February

John Miller's The Launch of Ngatokimatawhaorua (1974), digital print on paper, which will be featured at the Wairau Art Gallery.

The first public Māori art gallery in Aotearoa, dedicated to profiling solely Māori artists and curators will open in Whangārei in February.

The Wairau Māori Art gallery, located within the Hundertwasser Art Centre, has been many years in the making.

"We are delighted to be at the stage that we can now announce the opening of the Wairau Māori Art Gallery and its inaugural exhibition in the New Year on Saturday 19 February 2022" says Elizabeth Ellis, chair of the Wairau Māori Art Gallery Charitable Trust

Tinorangatira, 2021, lacquer on etched stainless steel, by Israel Tangaroa Birch.

Nigel Borrell, who recently curated the landmark Toi Tū Toi Ora exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery, will curate the first exhibition, entitled Puhi Ariki, which will play on the importance of contemporary Māori art to Northland. It will showcase the work of nine Māori artists who have connections to Northland, with a mix of iconic-first generation Māori artists alongside some recently established Māori artists.

"The title Puhi Ariki pays tribute to the importance of the plumes that adorn sailing waka where the puhi-maroke (the dry plume) sits above the puhimākū (the wet plume) at the tauihu (bow) of the waka," Borrell said.

"At the rear, atop the taurapa (stern post) can be found the plume named puhi-ariki. It is said that when the waka moves through the water, with ease and in unison, the puhi-ariki plumage shall glide along the water also."

Puhi Ariki was a metaphor for balance, order and prosperity, he said.

John Miller's The Launch of Ngatokimatawhaorua (1974), digital print on paper, which will be featured at the Wairau Art Gallery.

Iwi representative and Wairau gallery trustee Dr Benjamin Pittmann noted cultural support throughout the development of the project.

"Te Parawhau ki Tai have provided cultural support and karakia for all stages of the project's development from Te Kākano (The Seed) and throughout. It will continue to provide cultural support for the project until its full completion and thereafter," he said.

Ellis said planning on the gallery initiative began in 2012 and was a collaboration between the Wairau Māori Art Gallery Charitable Trust, the Hundertwasser Non-Profit Charitable Trust in Vienna and the Hātea Art Precinct Trust.

The opening date was also an opportunity to commemorate the birth, death and rebirth of Friedensreich Hundertwasser, she said.

Following a formal karakia ceremony by Te Parawhau on the 19th of February, the gallery will open to the public on February 20th.