Toi Māori Aotearoa welcomes Te Rā, the Māori Sail, back to Aotearoa

A delegation of Māori art leaders representing various Māori art forms and different regions around the country are converging at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna Waiwhetū, Ōtautahi to welcome Te Rā, the only known customary Māori sail in existence, back to Aotearoa on Saturday 8 July 2023.

The Toi Māori Aotearoa delegation includes Māori weavers, waka practitioners, moko artists and carvers, eager to be in the presence of this taonga tuku iho and express their creativity to celebrate this significant homecoming.

Te Rā was collected in Aotearoa in the late eighteenth century and has resided in the British Museum for over two hundred years. While the existence of Te Rā was known to early twentieth-century scholars of Māori art and culture, who published descriptions of the sail in New Zealand journals in the early twentieth century, no formal study of this rare and remarkable taonga had been undertaken until recently.

The homecoming of Te Rā has been led by Rānui Ngarimu (Toi Māori Aotearoa Trustee), Donna Campbell and Catherine Smith as part of their Marden Fund research project, ‘Whakaarahia anō te rā kaihau! Raise up again the billowing sail! Revitalising the knowledge through analysis of Te Rā, the Māori sail’. The sail will be first presented at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna Waiwhetū (8 July – 23 October 2023) followed by the Auckland Museum in late 2023-24, enabling many people to study Te Rā and inspire a revitalisation of Māori sail technologies.

Toi Māori Aotearoa Tumu Whakarae, Tamahou Temara, says:

“Te Rā is an archive of mātauranga Māori and demonstrates expert knowledge in weaving and sailing along with a command of the natural environment. For these reasons, Te Rā is an inspiration to Māori artists who work in different art forms. Decoding and reviving the remarkable technology of our ancestors will require expertise from many perspectives with the Toi Māori Aotearoa haerenga to Ōtautahi including the national committee of Māori weavers, Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa, strong representation from our waka hourua and waka taua leaders and leading tā moko artists, who will demonstrate their art form on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 July 2023 in acknowledgement of their shared pūrākau (origin story) with Māori weaving. Notwithstanding the sheer thrill of experiencing a taonga tuku iho of this significance, we expect our Māori artists to combine their knowledge and contribute to the kōrero of Te Rā from day one of public presentation for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

On Saturday 8 July at 2 pm, Chair of Ngā Waka Federation, Robert Gabel, will chair a panel of kaiwhakatere/expert navigators including Hoturoa Barcley Kerr, Martin Bercic, Stanley Conrad, Hemi Eruera and Jack Thatcher, to reveal a glimpse of the mindset forged through ocean voyaging in the footsteps of our tīpuna.

Leading tā moko artists, Professor Sir Derek Lardelli (Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Konohi, Ngai te Aweawe), Riki Manuel (Ngāti Porou), Ngaire Tuhua (Waikato-Taini, Ngāti Whātua), Raniera McGrath (Te Rarawa, Ngāti Hine) and Maia Gibbs (Ngai Tāmanuhiri) will also practise their art form in the Bayleys Knight Frank Foyer, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna Waiwhetū from 10.30 am – 4.30 pm on Saturday 8 – Sunday 9 July. Their live demonstration represents the work of Te Uhi ā Mataora, the Toi Māori Aotearoa collective of moko artists, who uphold the customs of tā moko, strengthen the knowledge of moko within Māori communities and promote the value of moko around the world.

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