Te Maori expected to be uplifting experience

Press, 6 March 1987, Page 5

Te Maori expected to be uplifting experience

Te Maori in Christchurch will be an uplifting experience for the local Maori community, according to a member of the committee for the Christchurch season, of the exhibition.

Mr John Stirling believes the exhibition of Maori art will have a significant effect on many Maori people in Canterbury.

“It is difficult to say what effect until the exhibition has been open for a week or so. You will see at the opening, perhaps, how people react,” he said yesterday.

It will not be until people see the pieces in the exhibition and identify

them as part of their heritage that they will respond to the exhibition, Mr Stirling said.

The local Maori community was looking forward to the exhibition.

Mr Stirling was at the opening of the exhibition’s Dunedin season. One of his clearest memories of the exhibition’s season there is of the effect on some of the Kaiarahi, the young guides to the Taonga on display. “They really didn’t want to leave the exhibition. They couldn’t say goodbye,” he said. Several guides have volunteered for the Christchurch season. Miss Cath Brown, the co-ordi-

nator of culture activities, said there were no street kids among the guides. Several people were taking time off work to act as guides.

The exhibition’s Christchurch season was launched yesterday with a press conference addressed by the chairman of Te Maori Management Committee, Dr Tamati Reedy, the co-curator of Te Maori, Professor Hirini Mead and others.

The exhibition will be opened on Saturday, March 14, at dawn. It will be on display at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery until May.