Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Open every day 10am-6pm
(except Christmas Day)
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
He kiritangata ēnei o ētahi tīpuna.
E whakaatu ana ētahi i te mana whenua. Ko ētahi anō ka whakaatu i ngā manene i haramai ki Aotearoa ki te kimi kāinga. Kei roto anō e mau ana ngā raumahara o ērā i mahue atu. He waka kawe ēnei hei tūhono i te tangata ki tōna tūrangawaewae, ki te onamata, ā, ki te inamata.
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These portraits are of tīpuna and ancestors.
Some depict mana whenua, the people of this land. Others show settlers who arrived in Aotearoa in search of a home. Many hold memories of those left behind. All carry stories that connect people to place, from the past into the present.
Closed 19 May 2024
Toi Art, Level 5
Free entry
Wheelchair accessible
Some seating
Interactives allow magnification of artwork images
Audio guide with transcripts
A multiplicity of kōrero are on display throughout Ngā Tai Whakarongorua | Encounters. The name itself reflects the multi-vocal approach to translation as a parallel to, rather than directly from, English to te reo Māori, or vice versa. The decision made to bookend the gallery with a taonga tūturu and the portrait of an unknown Māori woman is a further example of representing this range of approaches.
In English, the title has echoes of the sanitised and nostalgic way in which early meetings between Māori and the crew of the Endeavour were first described, a description absent of the violence that occurred. When approached through the te reo title, however, the room speaks of tides of listening and of duality.
The te reo title gives us the first instruction on how to read the room: be aware of how you interpret the many kōrero captured on the wall, your interpretation could differ from how others make their way through these stories.
Curator Historical New Zealand Art Rebecca Rice and Curator Mātauranga Māori Matariki Williams tell NZSL Presenter Theresa Cooper about four of the artworks on the portrait wall in Tūrangawaewae: Art and New Zealand.
Accessible, informative guide to one of Te Papa’s most popular permanent art exhibitions
Rebecca Rice and Matariki Williams, the curators and authors behind Ngā Tai Whakarongorua | Encounters , discuss their work with Te Papa Press
This portrait wall forms part of the Toi Art exhibition ‘Tūrangawaewae: Art & New Zealand’, which spans historical portraiture to contemporary practice, with art works that inspire and provoke, question and console.
