25 Jun Matariki exhibition at Toi Tū
Ngā Rangatahi supporters celebrated Matariki at the opening of an exhibition created by our rangatahi at Toi Tū in Ponsonby. The exhibition was based on documentation of the process of creating a new haka. Hikohiko te Uira – the name of the exhibition and the haka itself – is a reference to a well-known East Coast haka: It describes flashes of lightning dancing across the sky during a storm.
The haka reminds us that strength and beauty can be found in even the harshest of environments, and that lightning dances with increased intensity during the biggest storms. For our rangatahi, weathering the storm of the pandemic took resilience, strength, and flexibility. This haka affirms the message that beauty, strength and love can be found even in the most powerful of storms and together, there isn’t a challenge that we cannot overcome when we connect through culture and with love.
The exhibition was made up of powerful photographs by the incredibly talented Emily Raftery, who hung out with our rangatahi as they developed the haka, and documented the process. It also included a video that followed our rangatahi through the development of the haka, and text panels in Te Reo Māori and English that spell out the poetry of the piece. You can click on the image at the bottom of this post to read the text.
