New Zealand premier of international touring exhibition
25 March 2014
Rotorua Museum is excited to host the New Zealand premier of Te Ara: Māori Pathways of Leadership opening on Saturday 29 March 2014.
This ground-breaking exhibition is a window looking into Māori leadership and identity - past, present and future. Developed by Merata Kawaharu and Paul Tapsell with the assistance of emerging Maori scholars Michael Stevens and Hirini Tane, Te Ara has become a point of connection for other communities and cultures around the globe.
Te Arawa co-curator Paul Tapsell, a former curator at Rotorua Museum, says the exhibition is about reconnecting youth, the future leadership of indigenous peoples, with the messages, knowledge, and principles of their ancestors.
Te Ara has been shown at galleries in Olsztyn, Krakow, Warsaw, Oxford, Durham, Middlesbrough, Hamburg and Berlin. It comes to Rotorua from Vancouver, Canada, where it has been hosted by the Musqueam Indian Band, who will be accompanying the exhibition to New Zealand.
The exhibition features dozens of images taken by Polish photographer Krzysztof Pfeiffer, who travelled to five regions in New Zealand to capture how Māori elders are facing the challenge of passing the lessons and wisdom of the past to their youngest generation. Also included in the exhibition are significant Te Arawa taonga (treasures), alongside gifts from the Musqueam people.
The curators and accompanying Musqueam people are being officially welcomed to the city by Mayor Steve Chadwick in a formal event the week prior to the exhibition opening.
Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick said she was extremely proud that Rotorua would be hosting the New Zealand premier of this international exhibition.
The exhibition's examination of Māori leadership and identity is a very timely one for us in Rotorua, and has a strong fit with the council's Rotorua 2030 vision, particularly around future leadership for young Maori.
Te Ara: Māori Pathways of Leadership opens at Rotorua Museum from 29 March until 15 June 2014.
Entry to this exhibition is included in Rotorua Museum's admission price. Adults $20, seniors $18 and children $8. Entry for Rotorua residents is free of charge with relevant ID.