Thursday, April 14, 2011

E Tū Ake: Māori Standing Strong

The latest book from boutique non-fiction publisher Te Papa Press focuses on Māori as the dignified and courageous guardians of a revitalised culture.

“Other books we’ve published have looked at the items in our Museum’s collections and described the stories behind them,” says publisher Claire Murdoch. “With this book we’re bringing out the living aspects of our culture, and showing how its values are expressed in modern times.”

E Tū Ake: Māori Standing Strong by Huhana Smith accompanies an exhibition of the same name. Both came about as a result of a cultural exchange between New Zealand and Japan.

“We had an exhibition here in 2006 called Splendours of Japan: Treasures from the Tokyo National Museum and Mauri Ora: Māori Treasures from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa was exhibited in Japan the following year,” explains Rhonda Paku, Senior Curator at Te Papa. “They were both well received which inspired us to develop Mauri Ora further, giving it a powerful contemporary dimension. E Tū Ake: Māori Standing Strong is the result.”

“We’ve taken the principle of tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) and are illustrating its essence with three key concepts: whakapapa, mana and kaitiakitanga,” says Rhonda.

About the author:
Huhana Smith PhD (Ngati Tukorehe), is a writer and scholar with an expert knowledge of Maori art. A practising artist she is also honorary research associate of Te Papa.

E Tū Ake: Māori Standing Strong - The exhibition can be viewed at Te Papa from 9 April until 26 June, 2011.

Below - two images from the lavishly illustrated book

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