A new contemporary Māori art publication Toi Tū Toi Ora aims to be a primary resource for students wanting to learn about toi Māori.
Created by Auckland Art Gallery-Toi o Tāmaki from its groundbreaking and enormous exhibition of contemporary Māori art, the publication has been gifted to every high school and kura in Aotearoa and every school in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Toi Tū Toi Ora is a learning resource that tells the story of contemporary Māori art from the 1950s to the present day, with more than 200 artworks by 110 Māori artists.
Toi o Tāmaki Kaupapa Māori head Te Arepa Morehu says students can access this resource and others online.
“I don't think there is a book that is quite like it. Everyone played a part, from the people who curated it, to the editors, going through legal and something as simple as delivering it to the schools around the motu.”
Ōrākei School principal Michael Earl says he’s grateful that his kura is one of the 1,181 schools that the book has been gifted to.
“We run two different curriculums, Te Marautanga o Aotearoa ki roto i Te Ahurangi o Te Aroha and the New Zealand curriculum in the mainstream.”
Alongside the publication, teachers at participating kura will be equipped with a range of tools to help teach their students about toi Māori - including artist profile videos, and free field trips to the gallery.
From carvings to paintings, video art to jewellery, every work is illustrated in full colour and described in both English and te reo Māori.
“The programme the teachers are gifted by the art gallery is amazing so that we can really be working in a hybrid way, so that means we can be working face to face, sometimes we can be in a virtual world,” Earl says.
The Ōrākei School principal offers his thanks to the Auckland Art Gallery for the taonga, and for making it accessible to students all over the country.
“It's going to be really well received by the teachers as well because the lesson plans are there for them to teach from so they can be really specific and align it with our school values, and the key competencies in the curriculum.”