He rā whakahirahira tēnei mō te toi Māori i te mea kua whakapōtaetia tokoiwa ngā tauira mai i ngā kura e toru o Te Wānanga Toi Māori o Aotearoa (NZMACI), arā,  Te Wānanga Whakairo Rākau, Te Takapū o Rotowhio, me Te Rito o Rotowhio. 

I te wā e whakanui ana ngā whānau me ngā hoa i tēnei paetae nui, i whakaputa a Ranginui Thomas o NZMACI i tana kitenga i te wairua o te rā. 

“I kite ahau i te whakahiihii o teera whaanau i te putanga o ngaa ihu o a raatou uri I teenei kaupapa,” hei tā Ranginui. 

“Kei te ata whakaaro maatou ki te pae tawhiti naaianei. Ko te taahuhu o te kaupapa nei ko te tiaki i te maatauranga.” 

Ko Akiira Huata tētehi o ngā tauira tokotoru o Te Wānanga Whakairo Rākau ka whiwhi tohu whakairo i te Wānanga whakahirahira nei.

“Ko te kaupapa nui o te rā nei ko te whakapōtaetanga o mātou ngā tauira o Ngā Kete Tuku Iho. Arā, ko Te Takapū o Rotowhio, Te Rito o Rotowhio me Te Kura Whakairo Rākau o Aotearoa. He tohu kua whakawhiwhia ki a mātou ngā tauira kua noho ki konei, kua tupu i ō mātou pūkenga mō te rua tau, toru tau neke atu,” hei tā Akiira anō.

“Ko aku whāinga kia hoki atu ki te kura, ki te kāinga, ka whakakoi ake i aku pūkenga kaiako, aku pūkenga kōrero, aku pūkenga whao,” hei tāna.

Ko Heretini Fidow o Ngāti Ranginui me Tauranga ka pōtaetia mai i Te Takapū o Rotowhio.

“Ko te tino wawata o tēnei wāhi, o ōku tūpuna anō hoki kia whakahoki atu i ēnei pūkenga, ēnei mātauranga ki tōku kāinga. Whāngai atu ai ki ngā rangatira o āpōpō,” Hei ta Heretini. 

Carving and weaving the future of Māori art 

Beyond the ceremony, the graduates reflected on their personal journeys, the overcoming of self-doubt, and the importance of preserving their culture for the next generation. 

For Lea Wirihana of Ngāti Kahukura Korokii and Waikato, the road was initially challenging but she’s weaved her way to graduating from the School of Weaving Te Rito o Rotowhio today. 

“I had some doubts and I was thinking maybe I wouldn’t be good enough to do this school. But it’s not about being good enough, it’s about your passion for learning the arts and for preserving our culture,” Lea said. 

“In the future I really wanted to be working in our museums in the archives as a conservator. And learning weaving is really helpful for me in that too because you can study lots of the creations of different cloaks and other whāriki, and other materials that were made,” she said. 

“In high school, I was really interested in history, and learning about different cultures around the world. And so, in the future I really wanted to be working in our museums in the archives as a conservator.”

Heretini Fidow of Ngāti Ranginui and from Tauranga Moana emphasised the growing engagement he sees within the community and his passion for carving bone and stone in Te Takapū o Rotowhio.

“There’s definitely a rise within the passion of our young kids today,” Heretini said. 

“I was just playing around when I first started. I didn’t really know any techniques at all, just guessing. But yeah, everything I’ve learnt here, it’s pretty crazy to look at my Hei Poupou and say that I created that,” he said.