Sunday, 28 June 2009

28 June 2009

Whaia nga mahi a Rarohenga
Pursue the arts of Rarohenga
Explanation by Mark Kopua nō Te Aitanga ā Hauiti, Ngāti Ira, Ngāti Pōrou

While there has been an explosion of tattoo featuring Māori design amongst the celebrity and sporting set, Mark Kopua - nō Te Aitanga ā Hauiti, Ngāti Ira, Ngāti Pōrou - has been determined to retain integrity to the tā moko artform that he practices. Whether that's in taking on apprentices or correcting wrongly held beliefs that it's a male-only zone. In discussion with Justine Murray Kopua demystifies tā moko and in doing so reveals that the learning he acquired from his old people serves him as accurately today as it did his predecessors.

"As long as we live under colonising conditions we will always have to decolonise"
Professor Karina Walters, Chocktaw nation
William P. and Ruth Gerberding Endowed Professor
School of Social Work (2008)

Traditions evoked to avoid a crisis situation don't necessarily work in today's world according to Choctaw academic Professor Karina Walters. Meaning mechanisms used by indigenous peoples to survive the experience of historical colonial trauma may not necessarily be beneficial or even practicable in today's age. This was but one of a range of findings uncovered as the result of a wellness study Walters facilitated. Walters explains these findings, as well as terms such as lateral oppression and interruption of wellness to Maraea Rakuraku.

Waiata featured include:

Moko from the album, Rua (1998) by Moana Maniapoto