E Tu Ake

Overview

Explore the richness of Maori culture – dynamic, diverse, and politically strong – through the ancestral treasures, contemporary art, and stories of New Zealand’s indigenous people. E Tu Ake: Maori Standing Strong is an eye-opening and highly accessible account of the Maori world, both traditional and modern. The book showcases Te Papa’s most prized ancestral taonga (treasures) – carvings, jewellery, weaponry, and more, while a superb selection of contemporary works reveals the vibrancy of current Maori art practice. A clear and compelling account of key ideas underlying Maori creative and political expression today – mana, whakapapa, kaitiakitanga, tino rangatiratanga – completes the book.

Author Biography

Huhana Smith, PhD (Ngäti Tükorehe, affiliated to Ngäti Raukawa ki te Tonga) is writer and scholar with expert knowledge of Mäori art and taonga tuku iho (valued ancestral treasures). She was Senior Curator Mäori at Te Papa from 2003 until December 2009 where she led the Mätauranga Mäori section for Icons Ngä Taonga (Te Papa Press, 2003) and was the general editor of Taiäwhio: Conversations with Contemporary Mäori Artists (Te Papa Press, 2002), Taiawhio II: 18 New Conversations with Contemporary Mäori Artists (Te Papa Press, 2007) and Toi Ora: Ancestral Maori Treasures (Te Papa Press, 2008). A practising artist, Smith illustrated Haere, Farewell, Jack, Farewell by Tim Tipene (2005), winner of the 2006 New Zealand Post Children's Book Honour award. An active kaitiaki (Mäori environmentalist) she is currently leading a Mäori research team in a major environmental project based in Horowhenua.