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| Māori art | |
|---|---|
| Name | Māori art |
| Region | Aotearoa New Zealand |
| Period | Pre-contact to contemporary |
Māori art is the visual and material culture produced by the Māori peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, encompassing carving, weaving, tattooing, painting, and contemporary practices. Rooted in ancestral genealogies, cosmologies, and iwi-specific traditions, its forms function as repositories of knowledge, identity, and social relationships across generations. The practice connects to important events, people, and institutions of New Zealand history.
Māori material culture developed after Polynesian voyaging traditions associated with waka such as Tainui, Te Arawa, Mātaatua, and Tokomaru arrived via settlement narratives linked to figures like Kupe and Toi. Oral histories, including whakapapa maintained by rangatira and tohunga of iwi such as Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, and Ngāi Tahu, informed the symbolic lexicon visible in taonga held by hapū and iwi. Contact with Europeans—exemplified by events like the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi—altered material exchanges, introducing new tools and markets which influenced trade items such as pounamu ornaments traded along routes connecting Marlborough Sounds, Wellington, and Hokianga. Missionaries and colonial agents including figures associated with the New Zealand Company impacted customary practices, while leaders like Hongi Hika and Te Rauparaha engaged with muskets, trade, and intertribal dynamics that shaped arts patronage.
Traditional media include timber from species such as kauri and totara, stone like pounamu, fibres from plants like harakeke (flax) and materials like whalebone and paua shell. Implements such as toki (adze) and chisels made from obsidian or introduced iron influenced production. Taonga passed through marae such as Te Papa, institutions like Auckland War Memorial Museum, and iwi repositories inform provenance and conservation. Woven patterns and carved motifs encode genealogies tied to ancestors such as Maui and events like navigation by waka including Ngātokimatawhaorua.
Whakairo is practiced across wharenui, waka, pataka, and personal taonga with regional styles linked to iwi including Te Arawa, Ngāti Toa, Tainui, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou, and Ngāti Kahungunu. Master carvers like Tā Hēnare Waititi (historical), contemporary kirituhi practitioners and tohunga worked within protocols preserved in marae such as Te Whare Rūnanga and collections held by Canterbury Museum. Motifs such as koru, manaia, and hei-tiki are symbolically associated with ancestors including Rangi and Papatuanuku and have featured in exchanges involving colonial agents and collectors such as Charles Heaphy and institutions like Victoria University of Wellington.
Raranga and whatu are techniques for constructing cloaks (kākahu), kete, and vessel coverings using harakeke and muka fibre; iwi traditions from Ngāti Ruanui to Ngāti Whātua maintain distinct patterns. Renowned weavers and tohunga raranga such as members of families connected to marae across Rotorua, Wairoa, and Whanganui transmitted methods through apprenticeship and hui at art schools like Toi Whakaari and cultural programs associated with Massey University. Items like korowai and kahu huruhuru maintained roles in ceremonies involving ariki and rangatira, and were collected by ethnographers working with figures tied to Otago Museum and Powell-Cotton Museum exchanges.
Facial and body tattooing—moko and tā moko—are practices historically performed by tohunga tā moko and remain a living art form tied to people such as chiefs like Te Rauparaha and practitioners from iwi including Ngāi Tūhoe and Ngāti Porou. Tools ranged from uhi (chisels) to contemporary tattoo machines; designs served as identity markers in conflicts such as the New Zealand Wars and in kin networks involving rangatira. Painted kōwhaiwhai and tukutuku panels decorate wharenui on marae like Te Papa o Te Aroha and have been documented in archives held by Alexander Turnbull Library and museums such as Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira.
Since the 20th century, artists from iwi such as Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou, Te Arawa, and Ngāti Ruanui have synthesized tradition and innovation. Key figures include carvers and sculptors like Ralph Hotere, Selwyn Muru, Shane Cotton, Lisa Reihana, Michael Parekowhai, Robbie Macpherson (lesser-known), weavers such as Diggeress Te Kanawa and Rokowai (lesser-known), tattooists like Te Onewa Mataira and Tā moko practitioners associated with collectives at galleries including City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Exhibitions at institutions such as Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Te Papa Tongarewa, and international venues including those linked to Documenta have showcased contemporary responses to colonisation, urban migration, treaty settlements, and environmental issues involving iwi-led initiatives like settlements by Ngāi Tahu and cultural projects in collaboration with universities including University of Auckland.
Revival movements involved iwi, marae, and institutions such as Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Canterbury Museum, and community programmes funded by entities like Creative New Zealand and initiatives tied to the Waitangi Tribunal. Cultural education in kura kaupapa Māori and programs at institutions such as Toi Whakaari and Massey University supported transmission alongside iwi cultural centers in regions like Te Tai Tokerau and Te Waipounamu. Legal and political developments including the Treaty of Waitangi settlements, involvement of rangatira, and work by arts organisations have reinforced the role of taonga in identity, post-settlement governance, and public life across Aotearoa.