Source: Radio New Zealand
An exhibition at Aratoi Museum showcases the history and taonga of Wairarapa iwi Rangitāne. RNZ / Pokere Paewai
Several hundred people crowded into the Aratoi Museum in Masterton on Friday for the blessing of a long-awaited exhibition of the history and taonga of Wairarapa iwi Rangitāne.
The Tino Rangitānetanga Iwi Exhibition opens on Saturday at Aratoi Museum of Art and History, displaying taonga of Rangitāne o Wairarapa and marking a milestone in the collaboration between the museum and iwi.
As a prelude to the exhibition the wood and fiberglass Waka Wairua o Kurahaupō was transported overland from Levin to Wairarapa and was put on display in the museum courtyard.
Te Waka Wairua o Kurahaupō at Aratoi Museum. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
At the center of the exhibition are four huge pou carved in the Rangitāne style and on loan from Te Papa, as well as a photo of Rangitāne o Wairarapa whānau standing outside Te Oreore Marae, a recreation of a famous photo of the same marae from the 1880s. This recreated photo was taken on Friday, the very day the exhibition was opened.
Te Rūnanga o Rangitāne o Wairarapa’s Suni Brown said the exhibition had been in the works for a long time, but it had been 15 months since the exhibition committee had its first hui.
“The good part about it is with the research that we’ve been doing, we’ve been really finding that our tūpuna, you know, some names have been forgotten. But seeing the work ethic that they had, the visionaries that they were, and the artists that they were as well. So there has been a real joy to learn about our tūpuna from yesteryear.”
The Tino Rangitānetanga Iwi Exhibition opens on Saturday. RNZ / Pokere Paewai
The blessing of the exhibition happened on the same day and in parallel with another important event for Rangitāne o Wairarapa, the blessing of its new papakāinga development Te Manawaroa o Kuki Rimene.
“Our uncle said this morning, actually. He goes, yeah, typical. Rangitāne, all of us actually. Do everything at once and get it all done,” Brown said.
But Brown said he had really been overjoyed by the turnout fron all of their whānau.
Members of Rangitāne gather around and onboard Te Waka Wairua o Kurahaupō at the opening of the Tino Rangitānetanga Iwi Exhibition. RNZ / Pokere Paewai
Aratoi Museum director Sarah McClintock told RNZ in March that opening a Rangitāne iwi exhibition at the museum had been years in the making.
“We want this space to be their space, not that they’re occupying Aratoi, but they become part of Aratoi, that it becomes a safe space, a home for Rangitāne. And we know that they’ve felt that to an extent, but this really makes an incredibly strong and powerful message to everyone that we’re not about telling the story through a lens from any perspective other than Rangitāne’s.”
The Tino Rangitānetanga exhibition is on display at Aratoi in Masterton alongside Te Waka Wairua o Kurahaupō until 19 July.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand