Please note: This artwork is no longer on display
Curriculum links
Learning areas
- The Arts
- Social Studies
- Mathematics
Which strands will it fit with?
- The Arts - Visual Arts, Understanding Visual Arts in Context, Communicating and Interpreting in the Visual Arts
- Social Studies - Identity, Culture, and Organisation
- Mathematics - Geometry
Key Competencies
Thinking, Using language, symbols, and texts, Relating to others, Participating and Contributing
Levels of achievement
Levels 1-8
Year group
Years 1-13
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Which topics of study can it support?
- Pūrākau - Storytelling
- New Zealand Art
- New Zealand Society Past and Present
- Mathematics and Society
How long might this take?
Allow 10-15 minutes.
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Where do I find it?
Why should I take my class to visit this?
- Investigate how a work of art that seems simple is actually quite complex.
- A beautiful part of the Museum, drawing many different ideas together in one artwork.
- A stunning way to approach Te Papa’s Marae, Rongomaraeroa.
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What is there to do there?
- Read the artworks, using the visual clues in each panel to work out what the subject of the panel is, and then link them all together to create a whakapapa or genealogy.
- Walk up the corridor, understanding the space’s function as part of the journey onto Rongomaraeroa, Te Papa’s Marae on Level 4.
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What should I know about this?
- Jacqueline Fraser, a contemporary Māori artist, created Te Ara a Hine specifically for the walkway up to Te Papa’s Marae, Rongomaraeroa. It is made from modern synthetic materials, such as garden and electrical wires, which reflect the place of traditional stories in a modern context.
- Te Ara a Hine means the line of women.
- Te Ara a Hine acknowledges six female atua (Māori goddesses) from creation stories and also references the European religious art tradition of Italian fresco (painting done on freshly laid wet plaster with pigments dissolved in limewater - as both dry they become completely integrated). It also references Māori architecture in regards to the repeating patterns, such as tukutuku (woven panels) and the carved panels inside the meeting houses, which although have different characteristics are the same in their dimensions. This parallels the Italian fresco images seen in Italian churches in the early 1900s. These were used to convey the Latin messages to those who could not understand Latin. See discussion points for more information on the six female atua.
- It is the female entrance to Te Papa’s Marae, Rongomaraeroa, Level 4, echoing the stories of the female atua, or goddesses, along its walls.
Possible topics for discussion
- What does this artwork show? What is the subject of this artwork? This artwork acknowledges six female atua or Māori goddesses from creation stories.
- Are the figures at the top of each panel male or female? How can you tell? The figures at the top of each panel are female; this is indicated particularly by the moko kauae, or female facial tattoo, which is only worn by women around the chin and lips.
- What can you tell about these artworks from careful looking? What can you see or recognise in these artworks? What can you tell about the figures represented? The first work tells the story of Hineahuone, the woman made by Tāne (god of the forest realm) from sand. She is the female atua from which all others descend. The second work represents Hinetitama, sometimes known as the dawn maid, who appears in the sky just before the new day. She is the daughter of Hineahuone and Tāne. The third panel portrays Hinenuitepo - goddess of the night and receiver of those who die and enter the underworld. The fourth panel represents Hinerauwharangi who is associated with plants and healing. Hine-Korako is represented in the fifth panel. She is known as the ‘pale woman’ who is often thought to be the luminous halo seen around the moon. Hine-Korako guides and protects people and assists with childbirth. Hineruru is the sixth female atua or goddess represented in Te Ara a Hine in the curtain like hangings throughout the walkway. Hineruru is a kaitiaki or guardian and appears to announce the arrival of visitors or is seen flying ahead as a protector during a time of danger.
- What materials has the artist used? Why do you think she chose to use these materials? Fraser has used modern synthetic materials such as garden and electrical wire and metal rods to reflect the place of traditional stories in a modern context.
- How does this artwork relate to different responsibilities women have? Because it is situated in the walkway leading up to Te Papa’s Marae, it echoes the karanga, or first female voice, that calls visitors onto The Marae when they are being formally welcomed. The karanga is one of the responsibilities of women.
- What responsibilities do women have on the marae today? What about in the past? The roles of each of the atua embodies the importance of the place of females in traditional Māori society, especially their role as the bearer of children. Women were also involved in the defence of the pā or village, weaving, food gathering, and crop growing.
- Have you ever been to a marae? What happens when you are welcomed on?
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- Mai i te aroha, ko te aroha, by Lisa Reihana, currently on display in Te Ara a Hine
- Te Ara a Hine acts as a karanga or call that is heard during a Māori welcoming ceremony or pōwhiri, as it leads up to Te Papa’s Marae, Rongomaraeroa, on Level 4.
- See the kākahu (cloak) case in the Mana Whenua exhibition, Level 4, to see some of the cloaks that the subjects of Te Ara a Hine could have worn.
- Robyn Kahukiwa’s painting Ko hine te iwaiwa, ko hine korako, ko rona whakamau tai also depicts the Māori atua or female goddesses shown in Te Ara a Hine, and is situated on Level 4, in the Mana Whenua exhibition, next to the cloak case.
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