Kāhu Kōrako
Me haere i raro i te Kāhu Kōrako
Travel under the wise white hawk
Kāhu Kōrako is a term for an older kāhu/hawk/New Zealand harrier whose plumage has lost the dark colouring of youth and whose feathers are pale, white or grey.
The plumage of Kāhu Kōrako is compared by Māori orators to the grey hair of elders, and when coupled with the veneration that ngāi Māori hold for kuia, koroua and kaumātua, the term Kāhu Kōrako becomes a metaphor for an elderly person of mana, whose wisdom and grace will assist your passage wherever you travel within the hem of their korowai (cloak).
Kāhu Kōrako is offered as a tribute and acknowledgement of Fred Graham (Ngāti Korokī Kahukura) CNZM, Art Foundation Icon. Within Fred’s impressive body of work of over 70 years, manu have been a recurring theme, and his works stand and cast a long and rich shadow across Aotearoa and Tāmaki Makaurau, from Waiuku to the city centre.
Two of his works are highlighted as part of Tūrama at the junction of Shortland and Queen Streets. You may note that the head of the artwork above you looks to the south-west towards Waiuku, acknowledging where Fred and his wife Norma lived and raised their whānau.
For Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Kāhu symbolise knowledge, leadership and vision, all key attributes of chiefs, rangatira, Ariki. The front of Tumutumuwhenua their whare tupuna upon Takaparawhau at Ōrākei features a Kāhu Pōkere, a black hawk, a treasured and potent symbol of the tribe. It is the kaitiaki, the guardian, holding dominion to protect those in its care and to embrace all beneath its wings.
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Me haere i raro i te Kāhu Kōrako
Ko te Kāhu Kōrako he kāhu pakeke kua riro ngā tae pōuri o te pūhou i ōna huruhuru, kua kite kē i ngā huru tea, mā, hina rānei.
Ka whakarite ngā kaikōrero Māori i ngā huruhuru o te Kāhu Kōrako ki te makawe tea o ngā kaumātua. Ka kauanuanutia e te Māori ngā kuia, koroua, me ngā kaumātua, heoi anō ko te Kāhu Kōrako he kupu whakarite mō te kaumātua whai mana, ko tōna mātauranga, mauri tau hoki ka ārahi i tō haerenga, ahakoa ki hea, i raro i tōna korowai.
Ko Kāhu Kōrako hei whakamānawa, hei whakamihi i a Fred Graham (Ngāti Korokī Kahukura) CNZM, Arts Foundation Icon. I roto i ngā tini mahi a Fred i ngā tau 70, he rite tonu te kite i te manu hei kaupapa, ā, ka tau te ataata o āna mahi ki runga i Aotearoa, i Tāmaki Makaurau, mai i Waiuku ki te pokapū o te tāone.
E rua o āna mahi e whakaatu nei i Tūrama, kei te tūtakitanga o Shortland me Queen Street. Ka kite pea koe i te upoko o te mahi toi kei runga ake i a koe e aro atu ana ki te tonga-mā-uru, ki Waiuku. Ka tohu i te wāhi noho o mua o Fred rāua ko tāna hoa rangatira a Norma, i reira rāua whakatupu ai tō rāua whānau.
Ki a Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, ka tohu te Kāhu i te mātauranga, te rangatiratanga me te titiro whakamua, ā, he āhuatanga katoa ēnei o te rangatira, o te ariki. Kei Takaparawhau i Ōrākei, ka kitea he Kāhu Pōkere i mua i te whare tupuna, i a Tumutumuwhenua, he tohu whakahirahira o te iwi. Ko ia te kaitiaki i tōna whaitua, e manaaki ai te hunga i raro i ōna parirau.
ABOUT TŪRAMA
Tūrama is a collaboration between Graham Tipene (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Hauā, Ngāti Manu) and Ataahua Papa (Ngāti Korokī Kahukura; Ngāti Mahuta), and Angus Muir Design, with support from Auckland Council.
He mahi ngātahi a Tūrama nā Graham Tipene (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Hauā, Ngāti Manu) rātou ko Ataahua Papa (Ngāti Korokī Kahukura, Ngāti Mahuta), ko Angus Muir Design, me te tautoko a Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau.
