According to many Māori narratives, Kupe the great Maori explorer was led to navigate the regions of Aotearoa through his pursuit and battles of the great octopus - Te Wheke o Muturangi through which our ancestors were led to new land from Raiatea, Tahiti, the body of the octopus whose tentacles reach out around the Polynesian triangle.
Ngā Uri o Muturangi affirms ancient ancestral connections through Muturangi centred around customary Māori skin marking, tattoo-tatau and art practices. It does this through online membership and public content as well as a major annual public event hosted by TMT and its partners in Tauranga Moana, called Tā Moko Tā Tatau World Indigenous Festival.
Through Ngā Uri o Muturangi we encourage and support excellence in the visual arts and cultural practices amongst visual artists of Aotearoa by reaching out to international opportunities and growing the standard of our engagement with international expertise and standards.
For those experts of ancestral ocean navigation, Te Wheke o Muturangi metaphorically describes the navigation paths or currents from Raiatea (Tahiti) resembling the tentacles reaching out across the Pacific at least as far as the edges of the Polynesian Triangle (Tetahiotupa 2009).
Conceived in 2015 and spearheaded by leading Māori artists of the Tauranga Moana region, Te Tuhi Mareikura Charitable Trust (TMT) Tauranga is passionately dedicated to bringing audiences and artists together to experience, explore and develop the unique artistic art legacy of the Tauranga Moana region.
Te Tuhi Mareikura Charitable Trust connects artists together with the community to create public art works, share cultural arts as well as forge art relationships with unique international indigenous communities through the work of Ngā Uri o Muturangi.
Our goal is to advance education in Māori arts by encouraging and promoting learning opportunities for Aotearoa's visual artists to build on their knowledge and develop their skills through wānanga and workshops.
Ko tāku toi tāku ohooho!
My origin is my awakening!
Here you'll find articles we're passionate about both here in Aotearoa and internationally, upcoming workshops, other cultural oriented projects in the community, Ngā Uri o Muturangi events, events supported by Te Tuhi Mareikura Trust, and more.
If you have something happening that you'd like to share here thats similar to the kaupapa of Te Tuhi Mareikura Trust then send us a quick message.
Julie Paama-Pengelly, chairperson of Te Tuhi Māreikura Trust, is a tā moko practitioner, cultural artist, writer and painter with a Masters in Māori Visual Arts and Masters in Development Studies. In the past she has taught art at various tertiary institutions, and headed the Māori Visual Arts School for Awanuiarangi. Julie wrote Māori Art and Design which won a Māori Book Award in 2010. She serves as a consultant on building Art Collections, Māori Arts Education and Development for MOE and the tertiary sector, while operating her own business Art + Body Creative Studio in Mount Maunganui.
Julie describes her core practice and values as "deriving from my passion to create a space for Māori to recover a positive identity and future development through our visual art traditions".
The creation of Tā Ātea, a festival gathering of indigenous body marking practitioners from all over the world to strategise, educate and share a breadth of art traditions is the primary activity of Te Tuhi Māreikura Trust. The goal is to provide opportunities for Maori artists to develop skills, international networks and build audiences.
Instagram: @julesartistmoko
Facebook: @julesartistmoko
www.julesartistmoko.com
Linda Munn has an arts practice which spans 25 plus years which as a young artist became interested in Uku (clay), stone and wood and so began in her early career as a carver and sculptor. Munn has always been fascinated by all art forms and added paint to her practice and so describes herself as a multi faceted artist.
Being part of the Māori Land Movement, the Māori Women’s Refuge and one of the designers who created the Tino Rangatiratanga Māori Flag are definitely key highlights of a career.
Linda is part of an International Indigenous Artists movement and was invited to attend the International Indigenous Artist Gathering in 2017 that was held at the Evergreen College, Seattle and was invited to the International Indigenous Artist Gathering in 2019 held on Turangawaewae Marae. She was also involved with the Indigenous Tatau Wananga 2019 held on Whareroa Marae Tauranga.
The main themes which underpins her work are political and cultural. “There is no line down the middle, being Indigenous is political, whakapapa (genealogy) defends our right to the land of our Tupuna (Ancestors)”.
Links:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/teahikaa/audio/201859597/mana-tangata-linda-munn
Kereama Taepa has been lecturing in Art & Design for just over 15 years. His current role is at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology (Rotorua), and he has been there for the last 10 years. Kereama's main teaching focus is in digital technologies and how creatives can use computer software and hardware to create their work - whether that manifests in works that are physical, virtual, or both.
This is also the focus of his creative practice. Kereama has been creating a lot of work recently that is 3D-printed or experiential within Virtual Reality. He is exploring how these spaces and technologies can be framed within Te Ao Maori so that there may be a deeper affinity, thus opening the door for more Maori to engage with and participate within those spaces. This will be evident in Transmission, Kereama's upcoming solo exhibition at Object Space in Auckland from March through to April 2020.
If you want to see something close to home (Bay of Plenty), he has a work in the MATATOKI : MATA Ā WAKA exhibition currently held at Tauranga Art Gallery.
Instagram: @kereamataepa
Facebook: @kereamataepaartist
www.kereamataepa.co.nz
"As an Artist my job is to create new worlds and ideas. I work on personal and public projects that are Kaupapa Māori or that I care about. I have law and philosophy degrees and art is the best way I have to be true to myself.
"I support the Trust because I support the aspirations of all Artists to help create richer worlds, communities and homes through Art.
"My role in the trust is to support the artistic aspirations of my Iwi and Rohe. And to create opportunity for more Art to be created for and with the community."
Instagram @TraceyTawhiao
