Tauranga Moana is hosting a “must not miss” Toi Kiri: Indigenous Arts Festival celebrating traditional body marking from around the world in Mount Maunganui this weekend.
“I wouldn’t miss it. Even if I wasn’t into art, I wouldn’t miss it,” Toi Kiri creative director and tā moko artist Julie Paama-Pengelly (Ngāi Te Rangi) told Te Ao Māori News on Saturday.
“Because where do you get the exposure, the very intimate look into other people’s cultures?
“Where do you get that at your doorstep? You’d have to travel, traverse the world to see that.”
Now in its fifth year, more than 200 artists, storytellers, musicians and cultural ambassadors from Aotearoa and indigenous communities worldwide are coming together for the festival at the reserve alongside Whareroa Marae.
“We have Tahiti, Niue, quite a large Cook Islands contingent. Alaska, which is Tlingit. One of the indigenous Canadian nations. California indigenous Indian nation from America. Philippines, Tonga, Samoa. That’s this year.”
Paama-Pengelly says the festival is about “filling our cups” as artists and audiences.
“As indigenous we vibrate at the same level. We have the same relationship to mother earth and to all the elements, and to the way we see our world.
“So there’s an instant comfort and an instant sharing.”
It’s vitally important the festival is a welcoming space for artists from differing indigenous backgrounds, she says.
“Creating safe space for us to be indigenous together is extremely powerful.”
Alongside the festival, there is a week-long indigenous artists only Toi Kiri: Artists Wānanga that began on Monday, which affords the artists the opportunity to support each other and share knowledge.
“The whakawhanaungatanga that we experience as indigenous artists practicing in the indigenous tattooing space is all about us making our own networks, supporting each other as relatives, as kin,” she says.
“Creating opportunities for us to enrich and share our knowledge, and be strategic about how we look after our communities and look after our future.”
A unique aspect of this year’s event is the significant place of women at the festival, says Paama-Pengelly.
“A lot of the practices in other nations are women-derived practices. So they’ve suffered almost worse penalty in many cases.
“Allowing that to come forward means that there’s a really interesting dynamic between women and men because often the tattooing fraternity in general is male-privileged.
“So just having that balance to listen to women in that space and where their practices are derived from. And understand that there’s a whole other practice out there and to support that.”
A big turnout is expected for the festival which began on Friday and runs through until Sunday. It includes an exhibition, a symposium, dance and musical performances, as well as a market and kai stalls.
“Probably, in excess of 3000 I would think,” says Paama-Pengelly.
“There’s a huge participation, obviously, across all the performers. They’re scheduled all day.
“We have symposium talks and presentations. There’s art workshops like weaving and printmaking because Toi Ohomai and [Te Wānanga o] Aotearoa have their kaiako doing professional development.
“As well as people that are coming just to enjoy good food because my gosh the food is amazing today.
“And people to get marks. It reaches quite wide. There’s something there for everyone.
“The weather’s beautiful and it’s a beautiful domain. It’s ‘picnic in the park’ really, with everything that you could possibly enjoy.”