Exhibition review 2021
In 2021 I was invited to write a review of E Hina e! E Hine e! Mana Waahine Maaori/Maoli of Past, Present and Future for Museum Worlds.
E Hina e! E Hine e! explored the contemporary relevance of female Maaori and Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) akua/atua (ancestors). Focusing on our profound connections, and told through contemporary and traditional taonga (treasures), oratory, and visual storytelling, this exhibition celebrates the female essence.
I wrote that: “As Maaori life was sequestered further, our people absorbed a new, more patricentric belief system, the lessons of the puuraakau, and pakiwaitara (stories) of our waahine akua/atua became less known. Saved by the meticulous efforts of our tuupuna/kūpuna (ancestors) to maintain them, and of contemporary academics, who have dedicated themselves to recovering this knowledge, E Hina e! E Hine e! provides an elevated platform from which to begin the repatriation of these cloistered koorero (stories) into common knowledge.”
You can read my full essay here.
Hollie Tawhiao 