Story: Contemporary Māori art – ngā toi hōu

Te Hono ki Hawaiki, Te Papa

Te Hono ki Hawaiki, Te Papa

Te Hono ki Hawaiki (the link with Hawaiki) is the meeting house at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Its highly innovative carvings were produced under the direction of Cliff Whiting. In the same way as earlier Māori artists adopted European materials and techniques when they could see advantages to doing so, Whiting used customwood to make these carvings. The timber of living native trees was spared, and exciting curved forms were created. A similarly flexible and ground-breaking attitude produced the colour scheme for the meeting house. Whiting said he aimed for 'a look that incorporated all the peoples who live here'. 

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Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Permission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Jonathan Mane-Wheoki, 'Contemporary Māori art – ngā toi hōu - Contemporary Māori art in the 2000s', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/45376/te-hono-ki-hawaiki-te-papa (accessed 19 March 2024)

Story by Jonathan Mane-Wheoki, published 22 Oct 2014