Sovereignty That Won’t Be Denied
Ka mate ururoa, kei mate wheke Die like a shark, lest you die like a squid Die charging, rather than flailing1
Mangopare are a staple form of kōwhaiwhai and they also make up the building blocks of the surfaces of Tracey Tāwhiao’s recent installations. The design is known within customary practice to derive from the hammerhead shark, and the whakataukī loosely interpreted above is an equally well-known reference to the ancient fish characterised by speed, power, and courage. Tāwhiao does not necessarily call or think of these repeated marks as mangopare, but it is a connection that is difficult to avoid making. Not only do they resemble the well-known design element, but the way Tāwhiao applies them with fist closed around paint pen, direct and swift, as well as the bold confidence with which she articulates her spiritual sovereignty through her practice of art making, seems exemplified in the association.
As an educator, I have many times in whare whakairo (carved ancestral house), asked children to tell me what they see when they look at the kōwhaiwhai patterns descending the hekerangi (rafters) to meet the pou whakairo (carved ancestral
