Art inspired by a nationwide hīkoi will feature at a new exhibition aiming to provide a space for Tangata Moana artists to reclaim their culture and identity.
Iti Noa Ana He Pito Mata: From The Withered Tree, A Flower Blooms opens as part of WORD Festival tomorrow.
The exhibition centres Māori and Pacific artists reclaiming space through creativity and storytelling.
Among those having their work displayed will be Wellington artist Keelin Bell, 22, (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Porou, and Ngā Puhi), who said his art was inspired by last year's hīkoi against the Treaty Principles Bill.
That includes imagery of an ocean of Tino Rangatiratanga flags and Māori from different eras.
The whakaaro (idea) behind Bell's mahi is to create visual illustrations of pūrākau (myths and legends) that don't yet have a visual form.
"I feel like that hīkoi in a hundred years, that would have been quite a significant thing that happened."
Bell draws inspiration from Māori artists of the 1970s and 1980s, who adapted traditional art forms such as whakairo (carving), raranga (weaving), and kōwhaiwhai (traditional patterns) into gallery spaces beyond the marae.
That led him to bring old pūrākau into mainstream environments where both Māori and Pākehā can re-experience and rediscover these stories.
