Leilani Kake, is a multimedia artist of NZ Māori (Ngā Puhi,Tainui) and Cook Islands (Manihiki,Rakahanga) descent. Her work draws on auto-ethnographic experiences and indigenous narratives to address issues facing Māori and Pacific Island communities. “My work aims to explore, educate and empower not only the viewer but myself included”.
Toka Te Reo
This work is an evocative artistic response to the challenge of learning te reo Māori – its pronunciation, grammar and kupu (words) – and the illumination of achieving higher learning.
The artist states:
Toka Te Reo is a new work that responds to my intensive and fully imersive year of learning te reo Māori at Te wānanga takiura o ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa. Informed by the writings of Te Tai Tokerau scholar and tohunga Reverand Māori Marsdan, Toka Te Reo reimagines the pūrākau of the ascent of Tānenuiarangi and the three baskets of knowledge as well as the lesser known kōhatu tapu (sacred stones) of Rehutai and Hukatai. The stones were placed in the mouths of students to venerate and mark the significance that the student has now become a vessel of higher learning and illumination. The kohatu tapu evoke the mana and spiritual weight that each kupu (word) has. The stones also represent for me the struggle of pronunciation, correct grammar, remembering kupu and the korero that my kaiako always says. “Kōrero I te reo māori, Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu!”
The soundtrack is a karakia (prayer) which we (my classmates and I) had to recite and remember every morning (I still have to re-read it at times). The prayer is a prayer to help one learn, encourage and honour the Māori language. I have written the prayer below. The reasoning around why the karakia is not clear and sounds layered and atmospheric is more about as a learner of te reo Māori one finds oneself often moving in and out of understanding. So this feeling of never fully being able to grasp full sentences or certain words is about that frustration but more importantly it's a lesson about being patient with yourself while on this journey to learn te reo Māori. For myself as a post-stroke sufferer and slightly older age-group, learning te reo is also not just a language subject but it is way of reconnecting to hidden parts of myself. Toka Te Reo is not about fluency but about freedom. Freedom to make mistakes, practice pronunciation, find different ways that work best for you to retain words and meaning.
Initially I thought about subtitles when I was creating the work but I feel that subtitles would overpower the work and then also add other contexts around translation and loss of language.
The Karakia was composed by Sir Kīngi Matutaera Ihaka.
He īnoi kia mau i te Reo Māori
Nau e te Atua Kaha Rawa
I homai ngā reo o tēnā iwi,
O tēnā iwi puta noa i te ao,
Ā, tukuna mai ana e koe ki ētahi
Te whakamāoritanga o aua reo.
Ko tō mātou reo, ko te reo Māori i homai e koe
I te orokohanga-nga rā anō o te ao,
Hei koha māu ki a mātou ki te iwi Māori
Hei pupuri mā mātou mō ake tonu atu;
Kaua e te Matua e tukua tēnei tino taonga
Kia rite ki te moa ka ngaro,
Engari whaka-kaha-ngia mātou katoa ki te ako,
Ki te pupuri kia mau,kia ita,
Hei koha mā mātou ki te ao, ki a koe anō hoki;
Tēnā koe te ora nā, te Kīngi tahi nā
Me te Tama me te Wairua Tapu
Kotahi anō Atua,
Ā, ake tonu atu
Āmine
Wai Ora
Imploring us to finding spiritual, emotional and physical harmony with the world around us, this work pays homage to the Waikato river, with its fish moving through the niko taniwha (teeth of the taniwha), and to the heavenly clouds rolling through the poutama (stairway).
The artist states:
Wai Ora is a recent work created while participating and exhibiting at the Puhoro ō mua, Puhoro ki tua – 9th International Indigenous Artists Gathering at Tuurangawaewae Marae, Ngaaruawaahia, Waikato and Waikato Museum in Hamilton 2019, 23 November 2019 - 23 February 2020. Wai Ora was filmed and edited during my stay at Tuurangawaewae Marae. The viewer can watch the clouds slowly roll by while viewing seven of the twelve levels of Heaven represented as a poutama or stairway. Below, the Waikato river reflects the suns’s warmth through light refractions as fish move through The Niho Taniwha design or teeth of the Taniwha, which pays homage to this great river and acknowledges the Kingitanga. The soundtrack’s Pūtatara (trumpet) heralds the power of harmony and encourages listening to the sounds of Te Taiao (environment): the birds, the water, the sky and where we stand.
