Social researcher, fiction and poetry author, NZOM member and now presenter, Professor Ngahuia Te Awekotuku (Te Arawa and Tūhoe me Waikato) is the main face of the new documentary Waharoa: Art of the Pacific, making her the first wahine mau moko to present a series on television.
It follows how Māori and Pasifika art has transformed from traditional works to contemporary styles in just over 50 years, from Dunedin all the way up to Russell.
“From the times of our koroua and kūia in the world of art, we became really impacted by a whole range of different experiences, of different realities. Naturally, as a creative people, we responded to those impacts.
“Waharoa is a gateway or portal which is going to take the people watching the show through and into te ao Māori and te ao Pasifika.”
Ngahuia takes viewers on a countrywide journey to pay tribute to te ao toi.
'Extraordinary creatives'
Growing up in te ao toi, Te Awekotuku says her passion for art was a means to see the beauty and express many emotions through her work. She says the documentary is a tribute to the many artists who have influenced and impacted her journey.
“I grew up as a teenager meeting and talking to lots of extraordinary creatives. Upon arriving in Auckland in the mid-1960s I was very privileged to be sitting in the same room as some extremely significant and awesomely talented Māori people.
“They are the ones to whom I pay tribute and, most of all, whose work I want to share with everyone.”
The exhibition Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, which was held at the Auckland Art Gallery last year and showed the evolution of Mori art from the 1950s to the present, served as inspiration for the series in part.
It makes its premiere on November 17 on Prime.
