Education is the key for this 18-year-old wahine toa.
Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
See below for English translation
Ka pū te rūhā ka hao te rangatahi
Mēnā e ai ki a tātou mā te hāpori tonu ā tātou tamariki e whakatangata, e hika kai tūā o Mātangiāreia noa a Anahera Lewis Kemara e piataata kau ana.
Atu i te aroha mutunga kore o tana ake whānau, kai te kaha tautokongia tēnei whetū e te hāpori me ngā mātanga toi, whaihoki kua wāhi mai hoki e rātou tētehi tūnga mahi māna. Hinga mai, hinga nā te ao Toi i runga i te hahautanga me te karawhiu a te māuiui kōwheori puta noa tēnei rohe, puta noa te motu.
He ahakoa tēnā he rite nei tā tātou kura mehameha ki te poporo tū hamuti. Nā reira me whakamānawa tātou i ōna kāwai rangatira. Koia tēnei he uri nō Ngāi Tūhoe, nō Ngāti Kahungunu, nō Te Whānau-a-Apanui, ā, he Ngāi Te Arawa hoki.
He kotahi tekau mā waru te rahi o tēnei kōhine hai tāna ko te kai nui māna ko te mātauranga.
Anahera with a selection of her work.
Nā reira i eke ai ia ki te tihi o ōna moemoeā. Nā te tautoko me te kauawhi i a ia e ngā pou nui o Arts Village i Rotorua, kua whai huruhuru tana kaupapa ko Kōanga Markets hai kaupapa tautoko-ā-pūtea nei i a ia ki te patu i āna nama otīā ki a whai tonu ia i tana huarahi moemoeā hai wahine whakarite kaupapa.
"Ko te tino take o Kōanga Markets, tuatahi ake, hai whakapakari i te pia pēnā i ahau kia pakari ai, kia mātau ai, kia mōhio ai ki ngā kawekawe huhua o tēnei ao e pakeke ai te tangata mō tōna āpōpō. Ko tētehi hua nui o te mākete, he wā whakaatuatu e te mātanga toi āna mahi toi ki te mākui – he mea kāore i tino ekengia i te wā o te māuiui urutā me te māuiui kōwheori, wheoi anō, e kore e tāea te pēwhea."
Kua tata ki te rima tau tāna tūnga akoako nei e haere ana me te tokomaha hoki o ngā tangata akoako kua puta i tēnei tūnga ki te kawe i ā rātou ake mahi toi.
"Kāti ake ko te Mākete Kōanga tuatahi rawa tēnei, he mea i whakatūria hai āwhina i ahau ki te whakapakari i aku pūkenga whakahaere kamupene."
Atu i te wāhi kāīnga toi nei, kua whakaurua hoki ē ngā poumahi koreutu me ngā rangatira o ngā whare hoko ki te kaupapa. "Nā te kaha whakaaweawe o te māuiui kōwheori me te māuiui korona ki te hunga kawe toi he kaupapa nui tēnei e ora ai te hunga ringa toi, whaihoki e whai wāhi ai rātou ki te whakamātakitaki i ā rātou mahi."
He kaupapa awhina tēnei nā te taratī o Rotorua. He kaupapa whakapakari i ngā wāhanga ngoikore ōna e tika ai ia hai wahine pākihi.
"Kai Toi Ohomai ahau e ako ana, kai te karaehe tohu paetahi auahatanga ahumahi." Ko te pae poto ki a apukai ia ki a haoa mai ko ngā pūkenga nui i te wā poto e kaha ai ia ā te wā puta ai ki te ao whānui. He ahakoa kai te kura ia e ako ana, tūturu he tamāhine tēnei heke iho i ngā pou haka.
E rua ōna pā taunaha i te waiariki nei. Ko Te Pākira tētehi, ā, ko Mataatua hoki tētehi. He pou haka ia mā ēnei pā e rua. Ko Anahera tētehi o te hunga i haere ai ki Hawaiki Taputapuātea me tana pahi a Tūhourangi-Ngāti Wāhiao ki te ahurei o Maeva.
Anahera at work on a colourful mural.
"Nōku e itiiti ai taku arohanui ki tō tātou ao taketake me te whare nui o Ruatepupuke. Nō te wā ahau i te kura ko te huarahi o Tangaroa tāku e takahi ai, ā, kai tahaki hoki ngā pouako ki te poipoi me te arahi i a au.
Kātahi ahau ka eke atu ki tētehi taumata nui o te NCEA , nā wai rā kai Toi Ohomai ahau e tukituki tonu ana.
Ko te pae tawhiti, kia whai wā ahau ki te hakoke i te ao nei ā mātangata toi, kia noho tahi ahau me ngā tangata wairua tahi i ahau, he ako, he titiro, he whakarongo, he rāweke otīā he whakawhitiwhiti. He wairua pakiki nōku, he hiahia ki te ako, he ahakoa he rākau, he kōwhatu, he peitā kai reira ahau e rāweke kaupapa ana, hai whakatangata i ahau me taku muri aroha ki te ao toi."
Hai tā Anahera, he waimarie nōna kai Te Rotorua nei ia e noho ana. Tētehi hāpori paru ana i te mātauranga toi.
"E tika ana kia whakamihia taku whakapapa me te ao Māori, he mea nui ki ahau inā anō e tū Māori nei ahau, e whai kaha ahau i tēnei ao tūāroa.
E tika ana te pepehā, 'Whatungarongaro te tangata, toitū te whenua'.
Nā runga hoki i te āta mirimiri o tōna tūara e te whānau, kua tāhuri hoki a Anahera ki te raranga, he pūtea tautoko anō hoki tēnei i tōna waka. Katoa ēnei pūkenga i heke iho mai i te whare wānanga o Toi Ohomai."
Wheoi anō, mātua ki a oti i a ia tana mātauranga, he mōhio nōna ka tika tēnei ka tika katoa te huarahi ki mua ki a ia. "Engari mō te wā nei, he mahi, he hoko, he hoko, he ako e piki ai taku kaha i te ao Toi. Ko te paetawhiti, e hika mā. He ao anō tērā. Kāua ko te pūtea nui ki ōku pūkoro engari ko te matū o te mātauranga toi, me te āta tūraki i aku whāinga poto nei".
He ahakoa hinga ai a Anahera i te wā o te māuiui kōwheori me te māuiui urutā, ka nui hoki ōna painga.
"E noho puku ana. He peita, he haupūaroaro, he tuhi i ngā mea kai te ngākau, kai te whatumanawa. He wā whakatakoto rautaki, he wā whakatikatika i aku mahi kia hihiri, kia hiranga. Anei anō pea te take he wahine āta mahi ahau kia eke ai ki te pae o matahauariki."
He kupu ruarua noa ki te hunga hiahia ki te takahi hoki i tana huarahi: Kia aro noa ki ngā painga o te akoako, kaua e wareware he mātauranga anō kai te ao o ia rā. Whakarongo ki ngā tangata kai tō ao e haere ai koe, whakamihia te ahurea Māori nā te mea ka tae te wā māu te aroha me te mana e whakahoki atu, whakahokia. Ki te hāpori, ki ngā hapū, ki te iwi, ki ngā tamariki otīā ki ngā whakatupurunga hou.
"Kai wareware ki te hunga nana koe i poipoi, wheoi anō rā mihia ngā tangata me te ao hurihuri, ki runga i a koe, ki raro i akoe, huri rā, huri noa, ko te mea nui he aroha."
—Na Raimona Inia tenei purongo i whakamaoritia.
If it takes a village to raise a child then upcoming artist Anahera Lewis Kemara is sure to flourish.
Not only does she have her biological whanau's solid support but the arts community is more than generous with help and advice and has set up a marketplace for her.
The Covid pandemic lockdowns and restrictions had a huge negative impact on the arts community throughout Aotearoa but this Rotorua-born and raised uri of Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Whānau ā Apanui, and Te Arawa has made the best of it and expanded her horizons.
Education is the key for this 18-year-old wahine toa to realise her dreams and aspirations.
Thanks to the kaimahi at the Arts Village in Rotorua Anahera has a new venture, Kōanga Markets, to help fund her studies as an event planner.
"The Kōanga Markets that I'm running with the Arts Village Rotorua, has been created to give an opportunity to an intern to learn skills in event management and to build a portfolio and experience for their future aspirations of mahi in the arts.
Kai haka mo te kapa o Tuhourangi-Ngati Wahiao.
"The Markets also gives an opportunity for artists and makers to showcase their skills/talents, as this has been hard during the pandemic."
The internship Anahera is doing has been running for more than five years now and many interns have gone on to mahi in the arts such as curation.
"However, this is the first Kōanga Markets as it was created to support me in my event management skill building.
"As well as Arts Village kaimahi volunteers and stall holders have joined the campaign.
"Because Covid is having such a drastic impact on artists around Aotearoa, this kaupapa was created to allow our community to get together and for the different artists to show their works to our own."
The internship, which is funded by the Rotorua Trust, is specifically designed to help Anahera gain skills that she can use in my mahi prospects.
"I am also studying a bachelors of creative industries at Toi Ohomai which are more skills I can take in for my mahi."
The short term goal for Anahera is to learn as many skills and information as she can during these weeks so that in the long term, she can use them in all aspects of her future as an artist.
Anahera has a large, tight-knit whanau full of artists and then there is her kapa haka family.
Anahera Lewis Kemara wants to share her good fortune with others.
She maintains connection with her two pa in Rotorua, Te Pakira and Mataatua, and has performed kapa haka for both. Anahera was with Tuhourangi-Ngati Wahiao in Rarotonga for the recent ahurei.
"I have always had a passion for Te Ao Māori and Māori art since I was young with the influences of Māori artists around me and in my family.
"In school I was able to express and follow through with my passions with the help of different kaiako who saw potential in me. I have endorsed in NCEA art throughout high school and am now studying creative industries at Toi Ohomai.
"In the future I want to be a travel artist and learn different cultural arts around the world as well as sharing my art as acknowledgment to my tupuna, whānau and my whakapapa.
"I continually explore different media and try new things to add to my artistic pallet, to feed into my knowledge of art and different techniques which helps me be more innovative and creative."
Anaher said that living in Rotorua which has lots of Māori artists had given her inspiration to follow a creative path and do what she loves.
"Te Ao Māori is important for me to acknowledge in my mahi as it is for the existence of my whakapapa that I have an identity in this world.
"This plays a key role in my life and the people who influence my life, however, people come and go but my whenua will always be there, as will my whānau who I am connected to."
With whānau support and encouragement Anahera decided to try mahi raranga and now sells harakeke as well as paintings thanks to the entrepreneurial skills learnt so far in studies at Toi Ohomai.
Priority for Anahera is to complete her education qualifications because she is confident opportunities for the future will then come.
"In between studies I will sell and make art/raranga to get recognition for myself in the art community.
"The future I envisage is successful, not successful in wage but in achieving goals and doing what I love."Covid had a big impact on Anahera as an artist, but it also impacted her in a beneficial way.
"I could stay home and paint what I wanted to paint. During lockdown I had lots of time to plan, and execute different works, I think this is why I take so much time to perfect."
Her advice is simple: learn as much as you can throughout your studies, and everyday life. Listen to those around you and to acknowledge Māori culture through the skills you've learnt so you may give back to our community, our tamariki and the following generations.
Never forget those who have made you who you are, and to give gratitude to everyone and everything around you."
