Where Have We Come From?

Ko Kapakapanui te maunga

Ko Waikanae te awa

Ko Kahe te rau o terangi te moana ki Kapiti

Ko Whakarongotai o Waikanae te marae

Ko Kaitangata te hapu

Ko Tokomaru te waka

Ko Metapere Waipunahau te wahine rangatira

raua ko Wi Parata te kakakura oku tupuna

As Hariata Ropata Tangahoe recites her pepeha, she reflects on her inspiration as an artist. ‘My work is grounded in the importance of visions as a way of connecting with my ancestors,’ she explains. ‘The past, the present and the future―they’re all interwoven.’¹ Outspoken and fiercely independent, she brings a singular focus and conviction to her work, constantly extending her practice through the study of art, te reo and matauranga Maori.

Born in Otaki in 1952, of Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa and Te Atiawa descent, Tangahoe grew up mainly in the care of her grandmother while her mother, a solo parent, went out to work. At primary school in Waikanae she recalls, ‘We were taught to be Pakeha. The Maori was still in there, but it was struggling to get out.’² And even in her whanau there was a conflict: ‘Because of the colonised thinking of the time, my tupuna felt it would help me to become assimilated into Pakeha society. Brown skin and white inside like a potato. So I grew up feeling confused about my identity.’³ An imaginative child who loved drawing, she was unhappy at school and left early, to work as an office junior in Wellington.

Life changed dramatically in the early 1970s when her mother suddenly decided to move to Auckland, taking Hariata with her. Living in Grafton Gully, the heart of bohemian