A sculpture made from stained kauri and nephrite, with the stone form featuring shell eyes

Kia haere mai, te atakura, he tio, he huka, he hauunga Let the red-tipped dawn come with the sharpened air, a touch of frost and the promise of a glorious day… In May this year, leading Māori artist Fred Graham was lost to us. He was a central figure inRead more

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Museums hold thousands of ‘things’ from all around the world. In larger institutions like Te Papa, the histories of these ‘things’, be they objects, specimens, artifacts or taonga, are not always known. As part of a new research project, Curator of Mātauranga Māori and Archaeology Dr Amber Aranui at TeRead more

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Two women are leaning in together and are both smiling at the camera. They are standing in front of a wall of artworks.

Two wāhine from different backgrounds reflect on their growth developing Ko Au Te Taiao, an online learning resource that seeks to centre mātauranga Māori values. As Mero Rokx and Sarah Hopkinson worked through the complexities of this project, they discovered much more about themselves and their relationships to each other,Read more

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In: Education, Māori
A black and white photo of a large building.

When we think about New Zealand’s national museum, we often think about Te Papa, with its enormous building on the waterfront and bicultural philosophy. ‘Our Place’. Or we might imagine the National Museum at Buckle Street with the National War Memorial or the carillon standing tall in front – a place you might remember visiting as a child. But our national museum’s history begins over 100 years before that, in 1865, to be exact. Curator Mātauranga Māori Amber Aranui takes us back to this creatively documented time. Read more

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In: History, Māori
A paua shell attached to a large silver finger ring on a white background.

Collections Online hosts over a million items from Te Papa’s collection, each with its own unique story. As part of an internship exploring how blackfoot pāua are represented in Te Papa, Sara Joyce Macdonald highlights a few collection items showing the varied uses of pāua and the importance of that unique taonga to Aotearoa New Zealand.Read more

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In: Art, History, Māori, Photography
A woman in a long blue dress is tying a note to a wall of white paper notes.

As part of this year’s Matariki celebrations, Exhibition Experience Developer Dan Parke talks about creative storytelling in the Mānawatia a Matariki exhibition space on Rongomaraeroa, the marae here at Te Papa. This piece originally appeared in The Post on Wednesday 12 June.Read more

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Four views of long digging implements.

As part of this year’s Matariki celebrations, Public Programming Specialist, Kaupapa Māori Aroha Matchitt-Millar (Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāti Tarāwhai, Ngāi Tūhoe) talks about her connection to mātauranga Māori and shares her kōrero about this year’s theme, Matariki Heri Kai, the feast of Matariki. This piece originally appeared in The Post on Wednesday 5 June.Read more

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In: Māori
Ten women are standing and facing the camera and either smiling at each other, or the camera.

In 1787, a series of books composed of samples of barkcloths collected from Hawai‘i, Tahiti and Tonga were published by Alexander Shaw. James Cook collected the cloths during his voyages to the Pacific, and while the books contain only fragments of much larger creations, they highlight the variety of textures and artistry attained through the practices, knowledge and skills of Pacific peoples. Mātauranga Māori Curator Isaac Te Awa and Co-Director Pauline Reynolds take us through some of the makers’ reactions to the Shaw book at the recent wānanga in Tahiti.Read more

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In 2021, Te Papa acquired a rare book of tapa cloth (bark cloth) samples cut from larger pieces of tapa collected on Captain Cook’s voyages to the Pacific (1768, 1772, 1776) and represent tapa-making practices from various islands including Hawai‘i, Tahiti and Tonga. Rachel Yates (former Curator Pacific Cultures) initiated the collecting proposal and one of her key intentions behind acquiring the sampler was to ensure that it would be accessible to Pacific communities. In the first of four blogs about this kaupapa, Senior Curator Pacific Histories and Cultures Sean Mallon introduces the continuation of this project and a wānanga that happened in Tahiti in late 2023.Read more

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In: Māori, Pacific