Opus Gallery

A collaborative exhibition of pounamu hei tiki, carved by Te Kaha, and kete forms in response by Tangimoe Clay.

A three-metre long waka woven out of harakeke is the centre-piece of a new exhibition in the Opus Gallery at Te Koputu a te whanga a Toi – the Whakatane Library and Exhibition Centre.

The art-work is one of almost sixty objects that make up a collaborative exhibition between the artists Te Kaha (Ngai Tuhoe) and Tangimoe Clay (Whakatohea), entitled Mauri – what is the sound of human?

Exquisite pounamu hei tiki carved by Te Kaha are displayed (together with larger-scale photographic images of the hei tiki) alongside kete forms created by Clay.

The hei tiki are representations of 22 of the many children of Papatuanuku and Ranginui and reference the story of the attributes that each atua (god) gave to the making of the first human, Hine Ahu One.

Clay’s waka (inspired by the Hei tiki representation of Uru Ao, a “bearer of news to the world of man”) explores the multiple concepts of how Maori travelled to Aotearoa; it’s suspension from the gallery roof also alludes to flight and air-travel – the modern-day “waka”.