Whenua is embedded in
Māori material culture
Nā Sarah Hudson, December ‘21
Decorated Clay Ball [1982.50, 49938] Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira
Image from Louise Furey’s 2015 piece “Clay - a lesser known medium for Māori artefacts”
In our customary Māori practices, we wear whenua on our bodies to communicate, decorate, and in ceremony. We can see examples of clay-stained kākahu and whakairo in both museum collections and in our communities (1). Our pūrakau tell us Hineahuone was the first human, formed from fertile red clay at Kurawaka. As Māori we know the conceptual significance of whenua, and this comes from generations of our ancestors physically engaging with the earth.
In museum collections around Aotearoa, there is evidence that our Māori ancestors shaped clay and sometimes it was "baked"(2). Clay items in various states have been found in Māori occupation sites from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. They’ve only been noted by a few archeologists (3) but these clay balls, discs and carved forms are affirmations of Māori understanding and utilisation of the whenua.
Stevei Houkamou Whakapapa (2021) Collection Te Papa Tongarewa
Many of us understand the conceptual significance of whenua to Māori, but through the pressures of modern life, may not have a practice of engaging with the land in a physical sense. I spent a bit of time with Dr. Gerard O’Regan in the collections at Otago Museum this year, he described one particular taonga as “kōkōwai in action”(4). The evidence of activation offers not only an invitation to ponder its customary use or intent but also a call to continue the whakapapa of activating kōkōwai, and all forms of whenua, in the present day.
Nga Kaihanga Uku, a collective of Māori clayworkers, was formed in 1986 by Paerau Corneal, Manos Nathan, Baye Riddell, Wi Taepa, and Colleen Urlich. Alongside their active and generous uku practices, they researched Māori material culture, the whakapapa of clay in Aotearoa, and continue to foster up-and-coming generations of Māori ceramic artists. Whaea Colleen Urlich once said, “Clay had been used by Māori since the first time they stepped onto this land, because we haven’t got a ceramic culture, don't assume that we don’t know about our natural materials in the whenua that we live in.” (5)
Sarah Hudson polished balls of raw whenua (2021)
The few pieces of Māori clay artifacts in museum collections are rare, perhaps overlooked in previous archeological digs because they are not stone or bone, but a similar makeup to the earth it was returned to. There’s a concept in the earth pigment world of ‘re-earthing’ (6), when you grind a stone to make paint, you’re basically speeding up a natural process of weathering, creating a fine powder that can happily sit as subsoil content. When natural, local binders are mixed with earth pigment to make paint; the artist can return the product to the whenua with no harsh impact on the environment. This responsible, reciprocal way of activating the whenua aligns with what we’re taught as Māori about our relationship to Papatūānuku as our Earth Mother. It makes sense that there were many harmonious uses of natural materials that were easily and humbly returned to the earth without leaving much of a trace. I see these taonga uku as an inspiration: the forms, the carving, the delicate size… But also a wero - challenging the ability for our contemporary practices to have the ability to be re-earthed.
FOOTNOTES
(1) Check out Hongi Hika’s beautiful kōkōwai red cloak here, Jera Mae’s whenua stained kākahu here, and we will write a piece on staining wood with kōkōwai and “Museum Red” paint in the future.
(2) “Baked clay” is a term used by archeologist Michael Trotter. I am unsure as to why it’s not referred to as ‘fired’ like all other pottery. Perhaps it is the temperature it reached? But Māori in essence had kilns, there was an umu kōkōwai found at the Oruarangi dig which uncovered a large kōkōwai processing work area. This kōkōwai kiln would have been used to heat the material to give it a darker, richer red colour. Using “baked” over “fired” here seems inappropriate, food is baked - pottery is fired. Perhaps it’s a way of dancing around making the claim that Māori once were potters?
(3) The archeologists are: Michael Trotter who wrote a paper called “Māori clay balls” in 2012 and our mate Louise Furey who wrote “Clay - a lesser known medium for Māori artefacts” in 2015. Louise has another essay on this website: “Use of Kōkōwai in traditional Māori society”
(4) This was quoted to me irl but try to get as much Dr. Gerard (Ngāi Tahu) content as you can, he’s the Curator Māori and Pouhere Kaupapa Māori at the Otago Museum and talks about Māori rock art on a podcast here: https://aotearoaunearthed.podbean.com/e/episode-six-maori-rock-art/
(5) This quote has been pulled from an audio recording on Te Ara. Colleen Urlich (Te Popoto o Ngāpuhi ki Kaipara, Te Rarawa.) has since passed away, it was sad at first to hear her voice again - but an amazing reminder of her mana and strength.
(6) Both Heidi Gustafson and Karen Vaughan speak about re-earthing through their soil-based, ecologically considerate paint-making practices.
The title image is by Sarah Hudson of polished balls of raw whenua