Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Carver turned graphic artist to graduate

Carver turned graphic artist, Ranga Tuhi will be among 36 Mäori to graduate from the Wellington campus on Friday.

Mr Tuhi (Waikato, Ngäti Maniapoto) has completed a Bachelor of Design and, along with 12 other Mäori graduands, will take part in a special celebration ceremony on Thursday afternoon at Te Kuratini Marae, the home of the pou tuarongo (carved post symbolising the tangata whenua or home people) Mr Tuhi gifted to the marae in July.

The development, meaning and story of the pou is the focus of a book Mr Tuhi has written and designed to be published at the end of the year with the help of the family of the late Dr Ian Prior, a noted epidemiologist who sponsored and mentored Mr Tuhi since he enrolled in a foundation design course at Massey in 2003. Dr Prior died in February.

The 2.4m pou was made using modern processes and materials, carved from customwood rather than kauri. It features three main figures: Featured at the bottom of the pou is Hine Nui Te Pö i Raro Henga the goddess of death in her realm; above her Maui, the demigod in his quest for immortality for mankind – a quest in which he failed and was killed by Hine Nui Te Pö; and a figure of the goddess features again at the top of the pou in full figure.

Mr Tuhi spent many of his lunch breaks in the dining room or nearby whänau room of the marae. “I thought I would carve the pou as a parting gift, and use graphic design to publish the story.” The book will tell the story of all of the parts of the pou and will be one of a very few books published on the subject of whakaairo (carving) that details aspects of motifs and designs used with pou tuarongo. The book by Mr Tuhi complements Te Toi Whakaairo the Art of Mäori Carving written by Hirini Moko Mead in 1986 and gives a detailed description of the motifs attached to pou tuarongo.

“The reason I decided to create the pou tuarongo was to unite staff and students and strengthen the sense of community around the marae. There is a strong bond between carvers and marae. From my point of view a carver has an obligation or responsibility to marae.”

Mr Tuhi, 50, says he enjoyed his time at Massey. “I thought Massey was cool, the hardest thing in the beginning was the fear of not being able to keep up with the kids. I wasn’t up to my first year academically. What got me through was my wanting to know and a lot of support from teachers, sitting down and having a discussion."

Since February, Mr Tuhi has been cataloguing the artworks and artefacts of Dr Prior’s Wadestown estate and is working on a pou in memory of his mentor to be carved out of a 2000-year-old totara log that will be erected at the Prior estate in Queenstown alongside the pou Mr Tuhi carved in 2003 in memory of Dr Prior’s late wife Elespie, who died seven years ago. When he has completed those tasks he plans to work with troubled youth either in Wellington or back at his home marae Ngä Hau e Whä, in Pukekohe.

ENDS