Māori Party mourns the loss of a distinguished art historian and curator

He mamae nui kua tau ki te tini o te tangata i te rongo kua tīraha te rangatira, te mātanga toi o te Taitokerau a Te Ahorangi Jonathan Mane-Wheoki. E hika, noho mai hei whetū ki te poho o Ranginui kia tīaho iho mai koe ki tō iwi mō ake tonu atu. Nā reira haere, haere, haere atu rā.

Just a few weeks ago, the Māori Party congratulated Professor Jonathan Mane-Wheoki for his outstanding services to Māori development. He was invested as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for 2014.

“We are deeply saddened to have lost a pioneering scholar of Māori art and art history,” says Māori Party Co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell.

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Professor Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kuri) provided a strong Māori voice in art history, architecture, fine arts education, critical writing and contemporary Māori Arts. He spent much of his career as a senior lecturer in art history at the University of Canterbury before become the head of the Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland (2009-2011). He was the Director of Art and Collection Services at Te Papa Tongarewa and a member of Te Haerewa, Auckland Art Gallery’s Māori and Pacific Advisory Group.

“Professor Mane-Wheoki brought a critical Māori lens to Māori art which had for too long been the exclusive subject of other people’s gaze. His scholarship has contributed to a greater understanding of Māori art history and the central place of art and creative expression in our culture.

“While we honour him for his public contribution to te ao Māori and the arts, our aroha also goes out to his whānau and friends who are mourning his passing,” says Mr Flavell.

Mr Flavell will be attending a requiem service in Auckland this Saturday to honour the life of Professor Jonathan Mane-Wheoki before his final farewell at Piki Te Aroha Marae in Northland.

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