Legend and legacy meet on canvas

By MICHAEL HOOPER

A century ago, Maori visitors to Canada transported partners from that country back to Aotearoa. Canadian First Nations ("Indian") Hesquiat carver Tim Paul, a descendant of one of those partnerships, is now immersed in a new wave of Maori art rocking collectors on the American continent.

Motorists on Auckland's Northern Motorway may have noted a prominent totem pole at Awataha Marae, on Akoranga Drive. It is the link, carved by Paul to commemorate the twin roots of his family.

"Three Maori men came with the warm trade winds to my grandfather's home in Canada and stayed for three years until the trade winds came back," says Paul. "My family gave them two canoes and each of the men went home with a wife from our family."

His story has also been told in a carving displayed in Kiwa, a joint Maori-First Nations exhibition in Vancouver. Kiwa, at the Spirit Wrestler gallery, raised more surprising stories - and interest from collectors who flew in from as far as Hawaii.

One man, and several "nations", were responsible for making contemporary partners of the two indigenous peoples, whose cultural-political development is as far apart as it was a century ago.

The idea came from Spirit Wrestler curator Nigel Reading several years ago. Mutual visits were arranged by representatives of Maori and Northwest Coast Salish tribes, then, at the end of last year, more than 80 pieces of Maori art were shipped to Vancouver and Kiwa took life.

Queues formed hours before the opening, with a ballot to redistribute line places more equitably. Three-quarters of the work was snapped up on the first day.

The glossy catalogue, complete with iwi map, was specific to the Maori art. Reading credits the Northwest Coast tribes with having the generosity to share hard-won collectors' loyalties.


Whale Rider came along just at the right time, too. "People were phoning up to see if we did the show based on it."

Like Witi Ihimaera's story, the tales told in and around the art mixed legend with legacy. Exhibitor June Grant relates the story she heard of a boy on an East Coast whaling boat 100 years ago being pulled out to sea by the harpoon line.

"They lost him and had a tangi. Around 60 years later, a group passing through Hawaii heard the name of their ancestor. They were told he had been picked up off the shore of New Zealand, brought to Hawaii and had lived there ever since. We kept coming across these coincidences."

"Some of those cultural exchanges were powerful and special," agrees Reading. "Tim Paul re-enacted the landing of Maori on Nuu-Chah-Nulth lands and the taking away of women; Joe David [a Clayoquat mask-maker] introduced his daughter born to a New Zealand woman. There were all these moments where the Northwest Coast came forward to express their feelings to Maori. Anyone who witnessed what happened here will never forget it."

At the entrance to the gallery was Roi Toia's imposing kauri and greenstone sculpture of Ruatepupuke, the originator of carving, dwarfing visitors with its mana and its brilliant red and green colouring. The piece, with a US$36,232 ($53,179) price tag, was bought by a collector from California, whom June Grant later visited.


Whakapapa reinforces the First Nations link, suggests Grant.

"We know we are related; we have canoe traditions, some of the tribes hongi, our rituals of encounter are so similar. We felt we were going to a tribe of cousins, really."

Careful arrangement of masks and vibrant paintings from the two cultures told parallel yet sometimes contrasting stories of once-warrior peoples whose art has recorded history.

"It was the young guns that really blew people away," says Grant. These included Saffron Te Ratana and Ngatai Taepa, wood carver Todd Couper, jade carver Lewis Gardiner and bone carver Kerry Tamihana.

The more mature artists included Sandy Adsett, Fred Graham, Darcy Nicholas, Alex Nathan, Manos Nathan and Ross Hemera.

Reading says one of the strengths of the Maori group was the academic prowess of its leaders and their commitment to teaching. "Practically every Maori artist had an education beyond 18, with diplomas in graphic design or visual arts. They are lecturers and their art is being taught down."


Reading believes Maori art is poised to develop and sustain a market internationally. "People were astounded at the variety of work that Maori were doing. It is very contemporary and multi-media."


Exhibitor and Gisborne Tairawhiti art educator Steve Gibbs says some American collectors were especially looking for spirituality; seeking out art which they felt linked them to something more elemental.


A travelling exhibition being planned for next year, Toi Maori Eternal Threads, will weave more connections. Kiwa exhibitor Darcy Nicholas says it will encompass traditional through to contemporary weaving.

"It's a continuation of the relationship with Canada, expanding to the whole west coast, because Mexico also wants the exhibition." Spirit Wrestler is planning another Maori exhibition in 2007, and a fourth with the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.

Through Kiwa, art has become a communication between two countries still a century apart in reconciling colonial sins. As Grant writes, "Toi te kupu, toi te mana, toi te whenua" - where there is artistic excellence, there is human dignity.

* Michael Hooper travelled courtesy of Air New Zealand, Air Canada, Canadian Tourism, Tourism BC and Tourism Vancouver.