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A selection of portraits lined up on a red wall

Ngā Tai Whakarongorua Encounters

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.

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...

Expand English text

E hia nei ngā au kōrero e rere ana i te whakaaturanga o Ngā Tai Whakarongorua | Encounters. Kei te ingoa tonu te tikanga, arā, ehara i te mea e hāngai pū ana te whakamāoritanga o te taitara ki te reo Pākehā, engari anō, he huihuinga tēnei o ngā reo maha, he whakatūtukinga o ngā tai kōrero o te moana nui, o te moana pokopoko. Hei tauira, ko te whakatūnga o te taonga pūoro me te kōwaiwai kiritangata o tētahi wahine Māori hei pou mō te whakaaturanga nei – he momo tūtakinga anō tēnei.

He wairua pai tō te taitara i te reo...

Expand te reo Māori text

Exhibition highlights Taonga whakaatu

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