Honouring the Past

Based on Matakana Island, artists Shona Tāwhiao (Ngāi Te Rangi) and Paora Tiatoa (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Raukawa) are living the dream. Having met on Facebook, their shared love of art and culture laid
the foundations for a beautiful relationship. The couple now continue to grow their practices from
the container home they’ve built on Shona’s whenua on Matakana Island.

Living from the land and sea, spending their days creating art, these two creatives have created
their own pocket of paradise.

Shona, a raranga (weaving) artist and designer, was raised by her grandparents and gained so
much matauranga (knowledge) being surrounded by kaumātua. Whilst she didn’t grow up with
the reo, she grew up with everything else te ao Māori. “My koro was brought up when you weren’t allowed to kōrero [Māori],” says Shona. “Even though we didn’t have reo around us, everything else was very Māori — always at the marae, always with our old people, so I think that’s just naturally
a part of who I am.”

Shona grew up in Kaingaroa Forest where her koro worked, she later moved to Rotorua and eventually to Mount Maunganui where she attended college. She then left the Bay for 30 years
and was based in Tāmaki Makaurau.

It was never Shona’s intention to study raranga — she was searching for something else, but it
was the only Māori art course available at the time. A few days into the course, she had this feeling
of alignment, like it was right, it was meant for her — and now, she truly believes it was something that she was called to do.

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“I think it’s extremely important for rangatahi to know not just where
the art form can go, but also where
it comes from. It’s important to hold
those values true, and let it grow...
so it’s still relevant.”

Shona brings together her weaving skills with her love of culture and fashion to create work that ranges from catwalk-ready garments to sculptural pieces for galleries. Her most recent project, Pākākano, currently exhibited at Te Uru gallery in Waitākere, is a collaboration with her Nanny
Nunu (a tūpuna, ancestor) and something that has opened up more windows into that side of her whakapapa. Shona utilised Nanny Nunu’s raranga patterns from Mick Pendergrast’s book Raranga Whakairo, weaving large-scale seed pods that she first hung at her local marae. Whilst her weaving knowledge came through formal education and not from her own nannies, this particular show allowed her to explore that part of her heritage more fully.

Art has the ability to inspire people from all walks of life and Shona’s art practice — taking traditional methods and designs, and moulding them into new shapes and forms — has opened up opportunities for students across many disciplines. Many of them have reached out to discuss looking to the past, to traditions, to help them push past the boundaries and limitations of the modern world. “I think it’s extremely important for rangatahi to know not just where the art form can go but also where it comes from,” says Shona. “It’s important to hold those values true, and let it grow and move forward, so it’s still relevant.”

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Much like Shona, Paora hadn’t intended to be a printmaker, in fact, he had never planned to do Māori art at all. Switching from shape formation painting to contemporary Māori art in third year of art school, Paora has combined the two styles to create what he calls Abstract Contemporary Māori Art.

Inspired by a book he was reading at the time, Tāonga Māori in the British Museum by Dorota C. Starzecka, Roger Neich and Mick Pendergrast, he was drawn to a heru — an ornamental comb traditionally used to hold long hair in place. This design now adorns his prints in art galleries around the motu. Interestingly, the only documentation of the heru’s origins state that it was from the Whanganui district, which he’s connected to through his mother’s whakapapa.

There’s something magical about art and its ability to connect people and places across the ages
— for these two artists, the spiritual connection between their personal journeys and their practices cannot be denied.

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Paora and Shona have separate spaces for their art making in their container home, but they’re able to weave together and support each other’s practice. Whilst there can be ups and downs between the two creatives, Paora says there are elements of support and critique. “We sort of filter through what we like the most, or what is working best...”

Going from the “big city” to island life, Shona reflects on how the stress of a busy lifestyle and the cost of living really changed when they came back to the Bay. Living on Matakana, their lives are filled with the old ways of living — something Shona learnt from her koro who lived until he was
90 years of age. He always said to her that if you can grow your own kai and catch your own fish, then you’ll be fine.

“I’m allowed to make art all day, everyday… To come here and grow my own food, go fishing whenever I want to, is pretty special. Even more so that we are able to make art full time. Yeah,
we’re pretty lucky.”

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tawhiao7.com paorasprints.com‍

Thanks to the Creative Communities Scheme for supporting the stories in our Kōrero series.

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Words by Arpége Taratoa
Photography by Adrienne Pitts

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