We d started outside the Te Wharewaka o Pōneke (waka house) a vast building in the shape of a traditional cloak. “Our vision is to return a strong Māori presence to the waterfront,” says Taupuruariki Brightwell, one of our guides for the two-hour waka tour. Māori culture is experiencing a revival, but nowhere is it more obvious than in the nation s capital. The new Te Tauihu te reo Māori policy – named after the ornately carved figurehead of a waka – aims to make Wellington a Māori language city by 2040, the 200th anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Arihia Latham05:00, May 01 2021
Antonio Hernandez
Lady Diva says Tohu, bold wood flag inspired pieces showing stylised whetū in shades of the coastline represent navigation including her own journey from graffiti to gallery walls.
Graffiti art is like coded communication, it’s a medium of expression for many communities and cultures that feel oppressed or voiceless, it’s a way of expressing political thoughts and feelings or is simply political because it is reclaiming spaces that have been taken by capitalism, gentrification, ultimately colonisation. It’s an art form that has often sat beside hip hop in an uprising of indigenous voice in colonised spaces.