Artist talk: Emily Karaka with Paul Majurey and Te Warena Taua

Please join us for a free afternoon talk with artist Emily Karaka, in conversation with Paul Majurey, the Chair of the Tūpuna Maunga Authority (2014-present), and Te Wārena Taua, an original board member of the Tūpuna Maunga Authority. This discussion will respond to Karaka’s exhibition Matariki Ring of Fire which centers on the Matariki star cluster and the fourteen Tūpuna Maunga of the Tāmaki Makaurau region.

Looking to the Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Act, which in 2014 saw the Tūpuna Maunga returned to the thirteen iwi and hapū of Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau, the speakers will explore the enduring significance of these taonga to iwi, and how their historical, spiritual, ancestral and cultural significance is being upheld for generations to come under the Tūpuna Maunga Authority.

Paul Majurey (Marutūāhu) is an iwi leader, independent director and senior lawyer, and chairs the Tūpuna Maunga Authority.

Te Wārena Taua is Executive Chair, Te Kawerau Iwi Settlement Trust, and was Ethnologist at Auckland Museum from 1984 to 1996. He is currently undertaking a PhD on the Tūpuna Maunga of Tāmaki Makaurau and is a key advisor to this exhibition.

Emily Karaka has Ngāpuhi and Waikato-Tainui affiliations. Karaka is one of Aotearoa’s most senior artists. She has been exhibiting her work for more than forty years, and through it advocating for kaitiakitanga and tino rangatiratanga as these values weave through the history and lands of Aotearoa.

Image: Emily Karaka, Matariki Ring of Fire, 2022. Installation view, courtesy of the artist and Te Uru. By Sam Hartnett.

11 September, 8am-6pm