Tuawahine, by esteemed artist Robyn Kahukiwa, centres on images of wāhine Māori—the title referring to the principal female character in a narrative. The twelve new paintings that compose the show emphasise mana wāhine and mana Māori motuhake, promoting flourishing, and standing against ongoing attempts by individuals and groups alike to diminish Māori sovereignty.
There are clear connections between Tuawahine and previous bodies of work by Kahukiwa. Brave builds on the paintings from her celebrated Sovereign Māori Nations series (2022), two of which featured in Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present (2023). The work includes a quotation from the late legal scholar Moana Jackson speaking of the resilience of Māori people. The blue emanating from the face of the protagonist expresses her vitality and her whakapapa to the atua Māori. Her blond hair speaks of transcendence, as well as the multiplicity of Māori identity. Homeless in Our Own Lands refers to the disproportionate numbers of Māori who are without proper housing. It reflects Kahukiwa’s support for the ‘land back’ movement, advocating tino rangatiratanga through the restoration of Māori land to its rightful owners. The two works of the Mana Māori Motuhake series further promote Māori autonomy, authority, and independence, while Toitū Te Tiriti o Waitangi affirms the enduring importance of the Treaty of Waitangi as a confirmation of tino rangatiratanga and a cornerstone of the relationship between Māori and tauiwi. The Mana Wāhine series focuses on the mana of Māori women, and its basis in whakapapa, upon which tikanga Māori is also built. The works suggest the many roles of wāhine Māori— as mothers and grandmothers, knowledge-holders and caretakers, storytellers and makers, advocates and activists. They share iconographic elements with the series Pepeha (2021–22) and Sovereign (2023). The rich red brown of the land alludes to Papatūānuku, Hineahuone, and the whare tangata—the ‘house of humanity’, the womb. Brilliant rivers and head-shaped mountains evoke the pepeha as an expression of the strong connections between tangata and whenua. Present in many of the works in Tuawahine is the huia, an emblem of rangatiratanga and mana. The bird is not extinct but soaring in the sky, testifying to the persistence of Māori people, despite historical and ongoing iniquities, and calling for reclamation and revitalisation. Ka whawhai tonu mātou—ake, ake, ake.
