Tuku Morgan goes from Parliament to Ponsonby Rd

By LINDA HERRICK

Former New Zealand First and Mauri Pacific MP Tuku Morgan has set up a business selling Maori art in Auckland's Ponsonby Rd.

And he says the works are selling so fast he needs to find new material before the walls of his boutique gallery are stripped bare.

Mataora - "the living face" - was opened by mayor John Banks just before Christmas, and the gallery has taken in $30,000 worth of business in a week.

Morgan hopes to open branches in the Viaduct Basin, and other centres.

Morgan and his wife Carolyn are the financial backers of the business, which is fronted by their 22-year-old artist son Kawariki, who has just graduated from Toihoukura, the four-year art course at Tairawhiti Polytechnic in Gisborne.

Many of the works at Mataora are by Toihoukura students and graduates, as well as established artists such as painter and educational adviser Sandy Adsett, who is principal tutor at Toihoukura.

Adsett is also a quality control adviser for Mataora.

"I've only been interested in art since my son got involved," Morgan says.

"It's been a huge growth curve - we're novices at this but we've been advised by a number of people.

"We're trying to provide a full range of Maori art in all sorts of media, and we decided to come to Ponsonby Rd to raise the profile of Maori art.

"This is where people come to drink coffee, shop and go to cafes. But as far as I know, there's only one other Maori-owned business in the whole of Ponsonby Rd."

Morgan's profile as a politician was short-lived but colourful. A former television reporter, he stood as a NZ First candidate in Te Tai Hauauru and was elected to parliament in October 1996.

He fell out with NZ First leader Winston Peters and moved to Mauri Pacific in 1998 as part of the "tight five" group of Maori MPs.

He was voted out of office at the last elections.

Since moving away from political life, Morgan has moved back into television, producing and directing a 10-part documentary series called Hawaiiki, which is likely to screen on the Maori television channel next year. It is financed by Te Mangai Paho.