Weavers of Aotearoa

Press, 7 April 1987, Page 40

Weavers of Aotearoa

“Te Puawaitanga.” An exhibition of traditional Maori and Pacific Island weaving by Aotearoa Moana-nui-a-ki wa Weavers, in the Visitors’ Lounge at the Canterbury Museum, until May 18. Reviewed by Daphne Erasmus.

Any ethnic market has its stalls of hand-made basketry, straw hats and mats, made by people of varying ability, who have the opportunity to exercise ingenuity and artistic expression as reward for anonymity and penury. Before our plastic age, these goods were necessities of life and people developed a high degree of regional skills in manipulating the available material, which was also used for clothing in this part of the world where cotton, linen, silk, and wool were unknown. This exhibition comprises jewellery, piupius, belts, fans, baskets in all sorts of shapes and sizes, hats, mats and other useful and decorative

treasures, like rope for tethering pigs and two beautiful cloaks. All made within the last three , years.

The materials are mostly natural, the more common being harakeke (New Zealand flax), and imported Niuean pandanus and coconut. Decorations include shells, to add weight for keeping hats on, and features which add texture and colour. Dyes are commercial and from natural sources.

A few of the items are more suited to a market than an exhibition, but all are well made, and many have traditional-named patterns. There is imagination in the contemporary use of traditional techniques. Taaniko is used in a variety of ways and complexity of pattern, from preclassical, through to modern. designs, as exemplified in the work of the doyenne of Maori weavers, Rangimarie Hetet. Tukutuku has a new

dimension in the work of Mae Taurua. But Tufaina Tanevesi’s costume and head-dress are delightfully and naively traditional.

New Zealanders have a growing appreciation for the value of the laborious skills of an ancestors, which were endangered by our enthusiasm for the instant moulded container or endless length of cloth, valuable in themselves, but devoid of individuality and personality. In this important exhibition, we see the blossoming of the desire to perpetuate ancient techniques and also the cooperation between Maoris and other people of the Pacific in their common endeavour to emulate and develop the beauty of the work of their forebears. In Christchurch we have the opportunity to see this exhibition at the start of its national tour. There are periodic demonstrations of the crafts displayed.