News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Ancestral Art in UK

Ancestral Art in UK

George Tamihana Nuku, renowned Maori carver and sculptor, is staging his first solo exhibition at the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum in Middlesbrough, UK. Nuku’s exhibition ranges from large carved pieces to traditional Maori weapons, and…

Shadows at Pataka

Shadows at Pataka

Porirua’s Pataka Museum is building on ties with the American Haille Ford Museum in an exhibition of North American Indian prints called ‘Crow’s Shadows’, put on in conjunction with Wellington’s International Festival of…

Reclaiming the Moko

Reclaiming the Moko

Maori heritage claims the walls at the Massachusetts Peabody Essex Museum. Thirty large format images of moko by award-winning Dutch photographer Hans Neleman make up the exhibition. Kimiora Ereatara Hohua describes the story of…

Farewell to a Literary Legend

Farewell to a Literary Legend

Hone Tuwhare, one of NZ’s most distinguished and best-loved writers, has died in Dunedin aged 86. Tuwhare was the first Maori poet to be published in English (No Ordinary Sun, 1964) and one…

Kohanga Reo Movement Continues to Inspire

Kohanga Reo Movement Continues to Inspire

NZ’s thriving kohanga reo movement was the subject of a lengthy Age feature last month. Kohanga reo, or Maori language and cultural immersion schools, have blossomed since the movement’s launch in 1980. There are…

Master Carver Shares Message

Master Carver Shares Message

Maori master carver James Rickard held a workshop at the Victor Oteyza Community Art Space in Baguio City, the Philippines, this month. He spoke about the need for indigenous artists to protect their works…

Moko in Vogue

Moko in Vogue

A French fashion designer’s use of moko in advertisements for his latest collection has caused a stir in NZ. Jean Paul Gaultier’s campaign shots, featuring male and female models with Maori facial tattooing, have…

Edge Moves

Edge Moves

An American dance professor gained a fascinating insight into NZ culture during an exchange organised by the Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Tarin Chaplin wrote about her time in Auckland and Wellington in a…

Reign of King Tuheitia Officially Begins

Reign of King Tuheitia Officially Begins

King Tuheitia, the seventh Maori monarch, has marked the official start of his leadership after a year of mourning for his mother and predecessor, Queen Dame Te Atairangikahu. Thousands of Maori and dignitaries travelled…

First in Flight

First in Flight

Nelson’s Ngati Koata has become the first Maori tribe to venture into the airline industry. The iwi aims to launch a Nelson-based passenger charter service in the next three to four months, and…

Courage Under Fire Remembered

Courage Under Fire Remembered

Maori WW2 hero Lance Sgt. Haane Manahi has been posthumously honoured by the Queen, 64 years after being denied the Commonwealth’s top gallantry award, the Victoria Cross. The Duke of York presented Manahi’s…

Te Matatini: “It Really is That Good”

Te Matatini: “It Really is That Good”

Australian journalist Bruce Elder spent two weeks in NZ writing a travel blog – TrampaboutNZ – for the Sydney Morning Herald. The highlight of his tour was the Te Matatini kapa haka festival, a…

Ten Years of Te Reo

Ten Years of Te Reo

Te Kohanga Reo o Ranana in London is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. The centre was established in 1997 by a group of parents who wanted their children to retain their NZ…

Sacred Remains Returned

Sacred Remains Returned

A Scottish museum has returned its collection of tattooed Maori heads to NZ after housing them for more than 180 years. The nine toi moko were acquired by the University of Aberdeen’s Marischal Museum…

Connections Made with Past and Present

Connections Made with Past and Present

An American man’s exploration of his Maori roots is the subject of a documentary for US TV’s Travel Channel. Richard Wybrow, a CNN Radio editor, had always wanted to travel to his father’s birthplace…

Queen Mourned, King Crowned

Queen Mourned, King Crowned

The Maori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikaahu died on Tuesday 15 August aged 75 after a 40-year reign. Dame Te Atairangikaahu was the sixth monarch of the North Island tribes who formed the King movement…

Moko Takes to US Streets

Moko Takes to US Streets

The sale of Maori themed Halloween costumes by an American store has angered Maori leaders. Halloween Town in Los Angeles is advertising the Maori Facial Tattoo Kit for $US10. Rotorua academic Ngahihi o te ra…

World Heritage Watchdog

World Heritage Watchdog

Ngati Tuwharetoa chief Tumu te Heuheu has been named chairman of the UN World Heritage committee, the global supervisory body for cultural and natural heritage sites. PM Helen Clark described the appointment as a “momentous achievement,” and…

Poi Reaches New Audience

Poi Reaches New Audience

The traditional Maori poi has surfaced in Penticton, British Columbia. 22-year-old Penticton native, Donalee Davidson, teaches poi classes in her home city and tours the world performing her own interpretation of the art. “You…

Homeward Bound

Homeward Bound

The Glasgow City Council has officially returned the preserved heads of three unidentified Maori warriors to delegates from Te Papa Tongarewa. The moko mokai had variously been gifted to the Scottish city by collectors of antiquities…

Moko Shocker

Moko Shocker

US pro cyclist David Clinger has joined the list of international celebrities sporting “moko inspired” tattoos, which includes Mike Tyson and Robbie Williams. Clinger’s version covers the upper half of his face and most…

Old School Meets New

Old School Meets New

Laird Blackwell, Chair of Humanities at Sierra Nevada College (US), his wife Melinda, and a small group from the institution are the first ever non-Waitaha students to be invited to study at the sacred Whare Wananga O…

Celebrating Stories on Skin

Celebrating Stories on Skin

The art of moko features in Ancient Marks, a new book by National Geographic photographer Chris Rainier. “We live in a spectrum of possibilities, and I think it’s an exciting time to document ancient cultures dealing with…

Moko Mokai Return Home

Moko Mokai Return Home

Three preserved heads (moko mokai) of Maori warriors have been returned to NZ by the Kelingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow. The action comes after a worldwide search for Maori remains by Te Papa Tongarewa. Maori specialists…

He Maimai Aroha

He Maimai Aroha

Haere atu koutou hei whetu te rangi, tiaho mai mo ake tonu atu. He tohu aroha ki tenei morehu kuia. Rahera Windsor, spiritual leader of Britain’s Maori community, died May 3rd 2004 Born in Pupuke, 1925, she married…

Te Reo On Air

Te Reo On Air

BBC notes the launch of NZ’s first nationwide Maori language TV station. The inaugural broadcast comes 13 years after the Supreme Court ruled that the government was legally bound (by the Treaty of Waitangi) to protect its…

Canterbrian Chinatown

Canterbrian Chinatown

An amateur English historian claims that NZ was discovered and settled by Chinese explorers well before the arrival of Maori. According to Cedric Bell, a Chinese city of 4,000 people was situated where the Botanical Gardens in…

Pacific Watchdog

Pacific Watchdog

Ngati Tuwharetoa leader, Tumu Te Heuheu, has been elected to represent all Pacific nations on the UN’s World Heritage Committee. NZ beat more than 20 other countries to win one of 8 seats on offer. The…

Off the Map, On the Edge

Off the Map, On the Edge

Moko: Art of Nature, by Serena Stevenson and George Nuku, is to screen at this year’s Resfest digital film festival in the US. Resfest was established in 1997 as a forum for cinema breaking new technological…

Pacific Edge Connections

Pacific Edge Connections

Works by contemporary Maori artists including Vicky Lee Hipora Stark, Roi Toia (above, Pakake – Whale), Sandy Adsett, Fred Graham, and Robert Jahnke featured in the Kiwa Pacific Connections: Maori Art from Aotearoa exhibition held in Vancouver…

Te Reo XP

Te Reo XP

A Maori language version of Microsoft XP and Office 2003 should be on the market by next year, according to Microsoft’s Asia Pacific headquarters. The company has decided to release the two programmes in a range of…

Home Away From Home

Home Away From Home

A proposal to build the first functioning marae in America has been put forward by Maori citizens of Lehi, Utah. The state has one of the highest ratios of NZers per capita in the US, and includes…

Educational Skin Flick

Educational Skin Flick

Ta moko features in a Pacific Islanders in Communications documentary for PBS currently screening around the world. Skin Stories explores the art of tattooing, and its cultural significance, in Samoan, Hawaiian and Maori tradition.

Te Maori ki Te Ao – Paratene on Patriarchy

Te Maori ki Te Ao – Paratene on Patriarchy

In an interview with SMH, Whale Rider star Rawiri Paratene discusses patriarchy – both within and outside of Maoridom – and the universal appeal behind the heart and award-winning film. “I think Maori stories well told can…

Inappropriation?

Inappropriation?

Shock-boxer Mike Tyson has paid a dubious tribute to Maori culture by having a moko-inspired design tattooed around his left eye. New York Post: “‘It was meant to be Maori-ish,’ one source said of the…

Te Reo on TV

Te Reo on TV

The government has announced an increase of $7.075 million per annum for the Maori Television Service.  MTS will eventually reach 86% of the population. “It is important to note that this is a greater level of coverage…

Biculiterature

Biculiterature

The US readers’ magazine Pages (‘the magazine for people who love books’) focuses on literature from Aotearoa-NZ in its monthly global focus. Contributing editor Bethanne Kelly Patrick focuses on biculturalism and asks, “Maoris and Pakehas are…

Transit vs. Taniwha

Transit vs. Taniwha

“Maori swamp creature delays road”. The proposed upgrade to a stretch of Waikato road is of concern to local Maori, who believe that the underlying swamp-land is home to a taniwha. This, they explain, is the reason…

“Musician Who Revitalized Maori Culture”

“Musician Who Revitalized Maori Culture”

Dalvanius Prime, pioneer of Polynesian soul and hip-hop, has died aged 54. Prime developed his own take on American soul by merging its ballad form with traditional Maori vocal harmonies. In the early 70s…

Poi Eh?

Poi Eh?

New to New York: Village Voice features an “industral performing arts collective” remixing Dante’s Inferno using flaming poi. “Poi are a Maori tradition, and backpackers often try spinning on the beaches of Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand….

The Native Post

The Native Post

Connected to Congo at 56000 bps, former NZ TV reporter Moana Sinclair has been hired by the UN to coordinate the newly-formed Indigenous Media Network, largely linked via the web. Her experience overcoming obstacles and achieving mainstream success reinforces her…

Maori.nz?

Maori.nz?

A decision is close to being made by InternetNZ on the outcome of an application from the New Zealand Maori Internet Society to consider a new Net neighborhood for Maori-related Web sites.

BBC1 Haka Use Stirs Reaction

BBC1 Haka Use Stirs Reaction

BBC1 uses the haka amongst a series of segments featuring multicultural imagery used to re-brand the British TV Channel, attracting reaction in NZ. Maui Solomon: “The Western culture, having all their own stories, are starting to mine…

Lego Abandons Maori Names

Lego Abandons Maori Names

Danish toymaker Lego is to stop making a multi-million-dollar range of toys after protests from New Zealand Maori groups, claiming the company had appropriated their language and images for the toy range. “Future launches of Bionicle sets…

Maori 3G Deal Secured

Maori 3G Deal Secured

Pan-African cell phone operator, Econet Wireless, signs a deal with Maori to operate their license for running third generation mobile phones. The license was set aside last year by the New Zealand government for…

Maori Leader Born

Maori Leader Born

July 3 is the anniversary of the birth of Maori leader and MP Sir Apirana Ngata in Kawakawa, 1874.

Gone Fishing

Gone Fishing

Maori fishing rights seen as inspiration for other indigenous groups negotiating for sea rights.

Nests Bearing Fruit

Nests Bearing Fruit

Over half the world’s languages are under threat. Maori initiatives such as Kohanga reo (language nests), where elders teach children whose parents don’t speak the language, are seen as a model for other struggling cultures to…

Dawn Ceremony

Dawn Ceremony

Maori dancers performed a traditional dawn ceremony opened by a conch shell in St Mark’s Square, Venice, to celebrate New Zealand’s participation in the Art Biennale.

Lego-ality of Language Hi-jack?

Lego-ality of Language Hi-jack?

Intellectual property Lawyer and “defender of Maori culture” Maui Solomon challenges the right of Danish toy-maker Lego to use Polynesian words in its new game Bionicle.

Fishing for a Decision

Fishing for a Decision

The urban Maori/traditional iwi dispute over fisheries reaches the Privy Council in London, New Zealand’s highest appellate court.

Lego Language Insult

Lego Language Insult

New Lego trading cards feature words like “toa”, “kanohi” and “whenua” – sound suspiciously familiar?

Sailing to Meet the Past

Sailing to Meet the Past

“You get your guy sailing with us and it kind of changes things. It makes them want to come back,” says master waka builder Robert Busby, with his father Hekenukumai at Hawaii’s fourth annual In Celebration…

Returning the Gaze

Returning the Gaze

Early European explorers of the Pacific created a cult of the South Seas – Sir Joseph Banks, for example, had his portrait painted wearing a Maori cloak over his European dress. Now the Pacific refocuses the…

Working for Justice

Working for Justice

Dr Dorothy Millar began to question western values after contact with Maori culture, leading to a life spent working for justice and prosperity for all.

Flamin’ Right?

Flamin’ Right?

Fire poi are “trendy, hypnotizing and arty”, if a little confused: “The toys draw their name from the Maori people of New Zealand. Barred from speaking around men, Maori women invented poi dancing as a way…