MAI ORO, 2018

Recorded voices, videos and personally told stories make up the archive of knowledge passed on through generations. It is from these archives that this work stems from. It is within these achieves that I have come to learn about Maioro, a sacred burial ground in our Iwi of Ngati Te Ata.

Maioro is a land that our anchors are buried within. It is also a land covered in black sand carrying a high percentage of iron. Having been confiscated by The Crown in the eighteen hundreds and later sold on to New Zealand Steel in 1960, from then till now, this sacred whenua sits as a mining site. In 1990 our ancestors bones were found dug up on a conveyer belt. A noho - protest against the mining company took place immediately.

Tents were setup outside the New Zealand Steel gates and created a community where people from all over the country discussed, slept, and ate together similar to a marae. It is within this very tent that Kaitiakitanga was embodied. Through this work it is now the space this presence is activated.

A place to sit, listen and discuss.