
Arai Te Uru Hokianga s’gʷi gʷi ʔ altxʷ Longhouse Thnderbird Blanket Photographer Katz Shotz
“He kai kei aku ringa.”
“There is food at the end of my hands.” Māori saying
Visit the mahinga for stories from Te Moana nui e Kiwa, including Aotearoa New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and other island across Pacific Moana.
The Last Kai ✿ A Moana renaissance - Our June laurel goes to an epic tapa recreation of da Vinci's Last Supper painting. Tui Emma Gillies shares the journey of its creation.
Kamunez ✿ How the kiekie girdles Moana - Mele Tonga Tamanilo celebrates the traditional Tongan waist adornment known as kiekie by inventing new designs and introducing new eye-catching materials.
Nikau Hindin ✿ A star compass that makes history - Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa artist Nikau Hindin created an installation Kāpehu Whetū, Star Compass at Auckland's Maritime Museum. This work uniquely draws on traditions of navigation across Moana with unfinished business from first encounters with European colonists.
Wanda Gillespie ✿ Abacus - Our January laurel goes to Wanda Gillespie's gorgeous abacus. She takes mathematics on a detour.
How to make a life out of lei-making: Lauren Shearer - Our attention was caught by the work of Lauren Liana Shearer, who lives in the Hawaiian island of Maui. Our online exhibition of lei-making was limited mostly to artists working in Aotearoa New Zealand. It seemed important here to take our more grounded view of how a floral artist in Hawaii makes a life out of her work.
Warp & Weft – a selection of textile-ish NZ artists - Garland was launched in Ōtautahi Christchurch with the exhibition Warp & Weft, which featured extraordinary textile-related works from artists in Aotearoa New Zealand. We'd like to share a selection of those works with you.
The mis-education of Moana arts - Kolokesa Uafā Māhina-Tuai argues that we need to consider carefully the distinction between fine art and heritage art, particularly when applied to the Pacific Moana.
How to Make a Necklace from a Chair – Sarah Read - One of New Zealand's most interesting jewellers, Sarah Read has created a performance practice which explores the value of labour. In this project, she is stringing the polystyrene beads from a bean bag into an epic necklace form.
Weaving a koha - Māori weaver Kohai Grace describes how the koha of weaving is a continuous connecting of other generations.
Taurangi - Keri-Mei Zagrobelna writes about Taurangi, her jewellery work that embodies Māori values of honour.
A visit to TÜR Studio - Jane Groufsky visited weaver Christopher Duncan and designer Joseph Yen in their welcoming TÜR Studio on K Road, Auckland.
What we practise in private - Ioana Gordon-Smith cautions that the state-driven recognition of Pacific Moana culture should not lead to centralisation, but we should seek a plurality of platforms.
Lei in contemporary Pacific cultural practice, by Simone LeAmon - Simone LeAmon NGV Curator of Contemporary Design and Architecture travelled through the Pacific nations of New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji in December 2015 to meet artists and identify leis for inclusion in the exhibition Art of the Pacific, a new display from the NGV’s collection of Oceanic art.
A new garland for Fiji - The garland as a symbol of welcome is particularly strong in the Pacific. The role of the broader Pacific community is especially important when someone is devastated by a natural tragedy, as occurred with Cyclone Winston on 14 February 2016. It's natural that we turn to the garland as a source of support at this time.
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