Three AUT tauira behind Matariki art
This year’s Matariki art resource pack, commissioned as a koha to all by Pou Māori at AUT, features work by three different artists.
Commissioned annually since 2022 as a learning resource to celebrate the rising of Matariki , this year's works were created by third-year Bachelor of Visual Arts tauira Hope Korewha (Ngāpuhi) and Tohu Harris (Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Kahungunu / Te Whakatōhea, and Bachelor of Design tauira Te Awanui a Rangi Teresa Clark (Ngāpuhi).
Hope and Tohu collaborated on a series of nine works depicting stars of the Matariki cluster and their communities.
“I see this as a chance to honour people of positive influence throughout my life - a form of appreciation for their inadvertent and intentional impact, because without their actions and aroha I wouldn't be in the blessed position I am right now,” Hope says.
Each of the works is accompanied by a scannable QR code containing information about the stars of Matariki.
Tohu says the works hold significant meaning.
“The connection I have with my culture, whenua and whānau, embracing where I come from and sharing the stories that have been passed down from those before me.
“This commission was also an opportunity for me to acknowledge my loved ones who have gone to the stars,” she says.
An additional nine black and white line drawings by Te Awanui a Rangi, which tell the stories of Matariki’s whetū, are designed to be coloured in.
“My work is inspired by my view of the whetū when I was a tamariki,” Te Awanui a Rangi says.
“I would look up at the night sky and imagine Matariki, their mother, looking after her kids. Because they were so well loved, they were capable of doing magical things. I also thought about how they could be haututu when they were grounded.
“By tapping into my child-self’s depiction of ngā iwi o Matariki, I have created these colouring-in sheets to also tap into the imagination of tamariki.”
The artworks are commissioned annually by Pou Māori as a koha to celebrate the beginning of the new year in te aō Māori, when Matariki first rises on the eastern horizon just before dawn.
The artworks are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This license allows anyone to use the work for non-commercial purposes, as long as the artist is credited.