Kupu T-shirt project

Gallery Assistant Nicola demonstrating Wednesday's kupu, nau mai 

If you are connected to the Gallery online or have been in the Gallery recently you may have seen staff members wearing T-shirts with one of these seven Māori kupu (words) printed on them. 

kōrero, inu, nau mai, āe, whetū, manuhiri, ngutu 

As part of the Gallery’s Matariki celebrations we assigned each of these seven words to a day of the week, and people wore their T-shirt with that day’s word. This was a chance for us to learn te reo Māori collectively, practise vocalising and talking about meanings and potential uses of our chosen kupu. If you’ve seen the online images you will know people were asked to demonstrate the meaning of their kupu by taking a photograph of themselves wearing the T-shirt.

So how did this come about?

I decided while creating Matariki programming that it would be a good initiative to have the Gallery’s staff actively engage with the Māori language and generate a broader awareness of Matariki and te wiki o te reo Māori (Māori language week). Kōrero (talk, speak) was one of the five principles of my kaupapa when putting together the Matariki public programme.

I started by looking at what other organisers were running nationally for te wiki o te reo and got in touch with Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (the Māori Language Commission). The organisation provided me with some great free resources to distribute and utilise as well as letting me know their plans to have kupu of te wiki (word of the week) for 52 weeks starting from Māori language week, Monday 21 July 2014.

Visitor Experience Team Leader Fan showing off a nice pair of ngutu

Our seven kupu were selected from their list of 52, so we could have kupu o te ra or word of the day for the four weeks of Matariki. Seven kupu appearing four times during the month would help to reinforce the usage and learning. The front of house management team were really supportive of the idea and we screen-printed 30 staff T-shirts for the project. I would like to thank Popo hardware for their quick turnaround and help with achieving this project.

The uptake by staff was overwhelmingly positive and it was really inspiring to see that people here were keen to invest and learn. We had 29 participants in the kupu T-shirt project, a mixture of gallery assistants, security, conservators, curators, educators and even café staff members all willing to don a t-shirt with their assigned kupu on their word’s allotted day.

This was not just about wearing a T-shirt as each participant understood they would have to know their kupu and be ready to answer and discuss what it meant with other staff members and the public. As mentioned, they were also tasked with capturing the meaning of their kupu in an image that would go online to reach to our online visitors.

Team kōrero having a tea party

Other extensions to the project came via staff-led initiatives as we progressed through the weeks, some staff learnt new phrases and kupu and actively sought to put them into use. One staff member asked that the Gallery’s closing announcement be translated into te reo to be read out along with the usually English announcement. I have also heard discussions from the front of house managers that the future staff uniforms could look to incorporate more te reo Māori into the design to foster more engagement from the public but also more learning opportunities for staff.

I feel the Gallery has really demonstrated an awareness of and commitment to te reo Māori, and that this project has been rewarding not only for staff members participating in Matariki, but also to the public who have shown awareness and engagement. I look forward to seeing this grow at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

Definition and day of our kupu:

Monday’s kupu – kōrero 
1. (verb) (-hia,-ngia,-tia) to tell, say, speak, read, talk, address
2. (noun) speech, narrative, story, news, account, discussion, conversation, discourse

Tuesday’s kupu – inu
1. (verb) (-mia) to drink
2. (noun) drink

Wednesday’s kupu – nau mai
1. welcome

Thursday’s kupu – āe
1. (verb) to agree, give assent

Friday’s kupu – whetū
1. (noun) star, asterisk – sometimes used for other celestial bodies, eg comets

Saturday’s kupu – manuhiri
1. (noun) visitor, guest.

Sunday’s kupu – ngutu
1. (noun) lip, beak, bill, rim
2. (noun) entrance (of a cave, river, etc.), river mouth

– Martin Langdon, Toi Māori Intern

Korurangi

I have now been working at the Gallery four weeks – I had to check my calendar as it feels like time is moving so fast. I have been tasked with a number of projects, most under the guidance of Indigenous Curator Māori Art Ngahiraka Mason, to ensure that I am meeting the high standards that the Gallery sets.

These projects include uploading information to Vernon (a collection management system), identifying works in the collection that require copyright permission for display on the web, working on extending programming for the My Country 'Story Corner', creating a Learning Centre activity space for the next big exhibition, conducting research into the Gallery’s collection and video archives and – not least of all – putting together programming for the upcoming month of Matariki.

The Matariki programme is taking up the majority of my time at this stage, as I have committed to a tight deadline with a wide ranging programme involving screenings, art bites, family drop-in activities, public sculpture walks and even an internal project that involves te reo T-shirts and staff participation (more on this later).

To help myself centre programming ideas I devised what I saw to be the five core principals of Matariki. These are not mutually exclusive themes but were guiding points for considering ‘does this fit with the kaupapa of Matariki?’ I decided that all programming must connect to two or more components of the kaupapa to be both focused and succinct while remaining diverse.

The five points of my Matariki kaupapa are:

• Te Ao Māori (Māori world) – The meaning and tradition of Matariki, stories and significance
• Korero (dialogue) – language, discussion, talks, communication, interpretation (this month of Matariki also includes te wiki o te reo Māori – Māori language week)
• Kai (food) – nurturing, growing, harvesting, sharing of food
• Tangata (people) – Whānau, family, whakapapa, relationships, intergenerational learning
• Whenua (land) – Site, history, place, architecture, environment, sustainability

I think the Gallery realises the importance of Te Ao Māori (a Māori world) and by encouraging me to actively seek to partner and create content and understanding around Matariki, they are offering the chance to shape the perception of ‘Māori’ for the many people connected to the Gallery.

My hope is that by creating engaging content around Matariki, it will help to further the understanding of the value of all things Māori as well as the inclusive nature of relationships and togetherness that Matariki inspires. For communities who may feel under represented this is your chance to be a part of the Gallery, share your uniqueness and add to the complex tapestry that is Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

Te Ao Māori is reflected in the redeveloped architecture through works by Fred Graham, Arnold Manaaki Wilson and Lonnie Hutchinson. It is also apart of the building’s architectural conception, The realm of Tāne: ‘Inspiration was drawn from the parkland setting of the Gallery with adjacent shelter of mature pōhutakawa trees, Māori consider the bush the realm of Tāne Mahuta, a place where spiritual and creative renewal occurs. This became a central leitmotif of the design.’ⁱⁱ For me, all these structural inclusions set up a place of engagement and now it is about connecting people, art, life, site and architecture. To increase the presence of the people reflected in structure would be to energise and complete the Gallery’s purpose. The ongoing presence of Māori has been literally immortalised in stone and wood by these three artists.

Image 1                               Image 2                                                Image 3

To me these works say: You are represented here and your voice and presence is welcome. I must mention how amazing and historically uplifting it is that at this very moment the Gallery has two Indigenous focused shows running simultaneously Five Māori Painters curated by Ngahiraka Mason and My Country: Contemporary Art from Black Australia curated by Bruce McLean, Curator Indigenous Australian Art, QAGOMA, who is a Wirri/Birri-Gubba man with heritage from the central coast of Queensland.

– Martin Awa Clarke Langdon, Toi Māori intern
_____________________________________________________

ⁱ The title of this blog Korurangi references an exhibition of the same name held at Auckland Art Gallery in 1995. Korurangi: ‘a Māori motif in which two spirals surround each other without meeting – a coexistence that recognises difference.’ –  notes from the exhibition introduction, Korurangi: New Maori Art 1995.

ⁱⁱ Chris Saines, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki – A Place for Art, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2013, p 39. This kōrero was provided to the Gallery by Haerewa, the Gallery’s Māori advisory group, through their representative, Bernard Makoare.

Image 1. Arnold Manaaki Wilson, He Aha Te Wa – Moments in Time, 2010
Image 2. Fred Graham, Te Waka Toi o Tāmaki, 2011
Image 3. Lonnie Hutchinson, Te Taumata, 2011