During the last week, there have been many conversations circulating through different media and social networks about our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wearing a kākahu (cloak) at the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Kaitiaki Māori Collection Manager Mark Sykes explains the differences between kahu huruhuru, kahu kiwi, kahu kuri, and korowai.Read more
Iwi development manager Migoto Eria looks at the relationship between Heretaunga chief Hēnare Tōmoana and his wife Ākenehi Pātoka, who signed the suffrage petition in 1893, and reflects on the synergy between wahine (women) and whenua (land).Read more
If you’ve ever wondered what’s involved when museums loan and borrow taonga, you’re in luck: our Loans and Acquisitions Advisor Amy Cosgrove sheds light on the process behind Ko Rongowhakaata: The Story of Light and Shadow, as well as revealing an ‘average’ day.Read more
One of the significant taonga exhibited Ko Rongowhakaata is a nose-less poutokomanawa (centre post) called Rongotueruora, affectionately known as ‘Iron Man’. This taonga was in a very fragile state when conservator Nirmala Balram came to inspect him. Nirmala takes us through the treatment of Iron Man, and his journey from Gisborne to display at Te Papa.Read more
Te Papa is always looking for creative ways to promote te reo Māori. What are some of the ways we’re doing that?Read more
Lots of works goes on behind the scenes to get objects ready for exhibition.Read more
In the lead-up to the 2017 General Election, we have linked each of these issues to objects from the collection, or education programmes run by Te Papa. In this post, Acting Head of Mātauranga Māori Puawai Cairns writes about Immigration.Read more
When I spoke to a cousin of mine about Cliff Whiting’s recent passing, she talked about the first work of his she had ever seen.Read more
It is with enormous sadness that Te Papa acknowledges the passing of Cliff Whiting (6 May 1936–16 July 2017).Read more
Ruby Abraham, a Museum and Heritage Studies student at Victoria University, has spent the last five weeks on placement at Te Papa working intimately with the archive donated by Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (1943-2014).Read more
Charlotte Jimenez, an intern from the Institut National du Patrimoine in Paris, has spent the last three months putting more than 250 pieces of the plaster tauihu back together. Here she explains the intricate process.Read more
Today is International Museum Day. Mātauranga Māori senior curator Puawai Cairns considers this year’s theme – ‘Museums and contested histories: Saying the unspeakable in museums’ – through the ‘Maunga Kahu’ protest T-shirt.Read more
Mātauranga Māori curator Dougal Austin offers an indigenous perspective on first contact between Māori and Cook’s men in Tamatea (Dusky Sound). In November 2016 I took part in a field trip to remote Tamatea, or Dusky Sound, in Fiordland. Together with natural history scientists including a designated photographer, our team spent 10Read more
Mātauranga Māori curator Matariki Williams discusses the role of curators healing past wrongs, something being addressed in our new exhibition about motherhood and Māori women. At Museums Australasia last year, a conference convened by the New Zealand and Australian museums associations, visiting Metis academic and artist David Garneau interrogated the etymologyRead more
In the wake of US President Donald Trump’s order to ban refugees entering the country, cultural institutions across the globe have been vocal in protest. Here Te Papa curators share their thoughts.Read more
