Reflections
March
Te manu kai miro, nōna te ngahere;
te manu kai mātauranga, nōna te ao.
The bird that eats the miro berries, theirs is the forest:
The bird that consumes knowledge, the world is theirs.
17/03/2022
For the 'Ko wai au?' page of my visual diary I have included the favourite whakatauki of a very special kaiako. This was my way of connecting her to my further learning journey and to acknowledge the long line of kairaranga I have joined. Through Kaitiakitanga I am aware of my responsibility to uphold, advocate for and cherish the teachings of my ancestors and ensure these teachings are passed on in the best possible manner for future generations. I also remember that I am a student and kaimahi of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and that means that I must always be mindful of the community we serve and how to do that well and respectfully always.
Today I drove to Rotorua campus for the first time to meet my kaiako and class. I always enjoy leaving town and mahi so that I can concentrate and participate fully.
The session was incredible. I was able to introduce myself to the class and let them see who I am. They are a joyful and connected bunch who seem to have accepted me for which I am very grateful. I was able to have a few minutes to stand in front of everyone and recount a bit of my story before, during and current with raranga. I was also able to Koha some of my experience of online tools to uplift my class and to add to the pool of knowledge. When I am able to koha I always feel good about myself, it adds to my mana in my own eyes, but also adds to the Kotahitanga of the rōpū. It also allows me to feel comfortable about asking for and accepting help from others.
The learning outcomes were clearly outlined for us which was helpful for me, as I sometimes find this overwhelming, but Whāea has done an amazing job breaking everything down and simplifying it all for us. This always adds to the Āhurutanga for me, as I feel safe when I understand what is happening and what is expected of me. I also acknowledge that in my expectation of being in a safe and warm place when I'm with others, it is also my responsibility to be part of co-creating that space and doing what I can to contribute and propagate this value wherever I go.
I needed some help with my muka prep. I’ve been working on my own for ages because of the lockdowns, and while I was able to produce a hieke, a lot of what I was doing was purely experimental using things I have picked up in passing from books, videos and other weavers.
Fortunately, my kaiako Whāea Tracey spent many hours of extra time with me ensuring I had a decent grounding in muka preparation as this will be the focus for my degree. I will be making a kete muka first and then progressing to a tarapouahi. These should give me the skill and understanding I need to create a final piece in 2023. She demonstrated many of her own processes and then watched me as I attempted them all. She watched every movement like an elite tennis coach and gave me direction on everything, from my stance to the height of my chair, tools and every wasted movement. It was an utter gift, so many years of experience and all that focused purely on me. I will be forever grateful for this koha, which went above and beyond anything I expected. This time and effort given by a great teacher showed me so many things in alignment with kaupapa wananga and kauapapa matua, such as koha, kotahitanga, manaakitanga, aroha, kaitiakitanga to name a few. I only hope that I will be able to maintain and pass on all these teachings intact and continue the unbroken chain of mahi raranga.
25/03/2022
After four days of soaking my sized and scored, harakeke, I am beginning to find it easier to extract. I have noticed the slightly rotten smell, which reminds me somehow of feijoa. Soaking whenu prior to muka extraction is completely new to me. In my experience with harakeke using water completely changes the look of the harakeke in ways I find unattractive. Also, I don’t like the way the harakeke properties seem to change and the way it behaves once wet. This is a whole new journey, and I am incredibly interested in seeing what will unfold.
So far, I have found that the greener rau extract more easily than the yellower rau. Usually, I use all the harakeke I harvest, as much as possible, and prefer to make use of the so-called, ugly rau, the ones that have been eaten by insects, dried out and distressed. I am beginning to see that it may be ok to start being more discerning about which rau I use for muka.
It is impossible to hide any flaws when using muka and so it may do, to grade and select whenu that suit the purpose of the kete according to who it might be made for, or the occasion it may bring mana to, also the colour palette of the natural and whether I will be dyeing it. It might make sense to save the differently coloured muka for dyeing later.
I plan to continue to allow the rau to soak until extraction is easy. In the meantime, I have been cleaning and grading, by thickness and length, some muka I had already prepped last year. This job is hard and time consuming, because my muka preparation was not the best and I had not already sorted them into lengths and thicknesses. At the time I made this muka, I was not aware that I needed to size the harakeke first. This is how I ended up with so many different thicknesses. I am learning as I go, what to do and what not to do in the lead up to my next kete muka.
27/03/2022
Today I asked another weaver if she had anything to share on muka, we were standing on the street in Māngere as there is finally a break and we are not required by the government to wear masks in public. We swapped some materials and she gave me some work gear as she is also my manager. She told me that her favourite tool to use to extract muka was a bone handled knife but that she also loves using a mussel shell. When she uses a shell, she dips it in water while she goes, also when she has a break, she leaves the shell sitting in water to stop it from becoming brittle. In my short experience I have found mussel shells to break easily and it makes sense that they last longer when kept wet as their whole lives prior to becoming tools for raranga have been spent in water. Also, she shared some techniques on extending the aho and whenu, which I will have a go at soon.
I am struggling with my kete muka. Creating the flat bottom has been quite difficult. Muka is so fine and delicate and needs so much more focus than the green or even dyed harakeke. Everything stands out so process and consistency of process is incredibly important. Also, I am finding the aho thicknesses differ quite a bit and this stands out. I am finding it difficult to let it be and continue and hope that I get better at creating consistent aho as I go along.
At this point, I have no process and I am working to photos that I have taken of my kaiako’s kete. It is hard going when she is not here to ask questions of. I am ok with this though, as I understand that sometimes to just have to do something wrong and then take it apart and do it again to get the learnings. In these times, with COVID and online learning, it is impossible to have the face to face time with our kaiako, so we must make do with what we have and do our best.
28/03/2022
Some reflections on the Ruapani harakeke I have been extracting from.
I made my muka cut way too low, this made my whenu incredibly long and also very difficult to extract in the thickest part. When extracting very long and wet, whenu can easily tangle. After struggling with about a quarter of my whenu, I decided to redo the muka cut on every whenu. This was a time-consuming mistake but one which I won’t have to make again. Another thing I’ve realised is that using distressed and discoloured, diseased harakeke will have an impact on the muka fibre itself, the look, the feel and the quality. Most important for me, in this case is the quality. I want strong, consistent fibres and an even consistency of thickness. This is incredibly difficult to achieve with the distressed and coloured rau. While it is my intention to always be inclusive as a spiritual principle in my life, in raranga, this principle may need to be modified to suit the kaupapa. This is how I practice Te Whakapono, rigorous honesty. When I do this, I learn, I grow, I develop.
As usual, I also need to be a bit more ruthless on where I cut the rau. While it is nice to believe I have a lovely long whenu, I will end up making more work for myself if 10cm of it is too thick to extract muka from and I end up battling with it for longer than I should. It is also important to cut off any pointy tips as they end up getting very tangled when you miro.
Muka prep is so much more advanced for me than harakeke prep for raranga. I realise when using muka, you need so much more to create anything of substantial size. Creating muka of consistent size, width, thickness, cleanliness, colour and strength is a tall order, and I am already noticing the impacts of the time and difficulty on my work/life balance. I am physically more exhausted than I usually am when prepping green harakeke for raranga and I need more recovery time. Hopefully my muka fitness will increase over time.
30/03/2022
I have completed prepping all my harakeke. I really don’t like what I have. I am considering harvesting a whole new lot. I am busy and it’s been quite difficult to find the time that I need to do this mahi. I am feeling very stretched and the reality of what I am doing is sinking in and I am feeling the weight of the work that I have ahead of me this is partly due to the excessive amount of admin required in my work due to working from home because of the pandemic, a reality that many people around the world are having to cope with. Knowing this does not make it any easier, however, I am grateful for my life and for the free vaccinations and our health system.
April
E ngaki ana a mua, e tōtō mai ana a muri.
First clear the weeds, then plant.
04/04/2022
Since I started creating muka for this course of study, my life has gone up a level or two in pace. I have found that I don’t have a minute spare and it is exhausting keeping up with everything. Keeping well and progressing in the physical arena is a huge part of my Te Whare Pora practise and so I have been lifting heavier weights and upping my cardio effort. I find that the fitter I am the better my weaving. Because I lost a lot of my physical strength and stamina during the prolonged lockdowns, I am in a recovering strength phase of my program and so adding a degree level program into my life has been taxing alongside the growth and development of my economic life and future.
Also due to COVID and the war in Ukraine, the petrol prices have skyrocketed, so we have spent a huge amount of energy finding and buying through finance, a hybrid vehicle. The process has been incredibly draining as the government has imposed very strict guidelines on finance companies in recent times.
After soaking the Ruapani harakeke from Whāea Tracey in Rotorua, for a good ten days, I finally decided to extract all of the muka. I found the process infuriating, frustrating and I was very annoyed that all of the soaking had not made much difference to the ease of extraction. I did finish however, and today, approximately a week later, I finally have a day off work to begin the miro and to start sorting my whenu into lengths.
I have ruminated a lot on this and one of the reasons I found this extraction so difficult is that I harvested all the rau and attempted to extract all the rau. When I say all, I mean I used zero discretion, including every single rau, no matter what the state. Many were very dry and diseased with lots of rusty, red spotted and golden coloured.
In my raranga experience I have attempted to be inclusive and invite all the harakeke to participate. In some instances I have made the ‘ugly, distressed and dried out’ whenu the star of the show, meaning I have created the pattern on a tuwhara, using the ugly whenu and turning all the pristine and perfect whenu to the back. This was an attempt to ‘showcase’ the downtrodden and unattractive ones as a metaphor for how often in life, these types of people are not seen and heard. I was incredibly proud of that piece and it made me feel like a really good person holding myself out to be someone that would never exclude anyone based on their exterior. In this case, it completely backfired. I’m not too sure yet what that means, but I realise that some concepts do not translate well into other areas, meaning that, just because a process works in one medium, does not necessarily mean it will work in another. Maybe it is the justification I needed to permit myself to be more selective about who and what I bring into my life.
In the observance of Ngā Ture, it is important that my wellbeing is factored in. We can attempt to uphold the highest ideals, but must always remember to hold those ideals for self. If I honour and respect my tinana, hinengaro, wairua and whānau, then I am in fit state to do for others, but there must be boundaries, otherwise the cup will quickly empty and there will be nothing left to share. For sure, I wish I had learned this lesson many years ago. I certainly will remember next time I harvest for muka that I need to be more selective.
Just as a side experiment, I went to my local patch of harakeke and tested a plant that I’ve used before for muka. Unfortunately, it is a council planting, and the varieties are not named. The harakeke is very tall and quite upright. There is a thickness to the rau and it has black edges. I find that the muka comes away quite easily, as long as I cut deep enough and so I harvested some to bring home and soak and see what the process does to this particular harakeke. While that is soaking I will finish prepping the Ruapani.
So the Ruapani has been sitting dry in my room for nearly a week and I find that it is very easy to pick up and wet and miro, so maybe letting it sit dry for awhile is useful to add into my process. We’ll see.
09/04/2022
This week has been intense with mahi and whānau. We were successful in financing a hybrid vehicle and my son Whiti te Rā bought our old one. I am very relieved to have a car that pollutes less and uses less petrol as the price of gas has skyrocketed lately. The world has been though a lot, COVID and a new/old war restarting in Russia. Petrol went up to $3 per litre which made it almost impossible to attend my classes in Rotorua. The hybrid vehicle aligns more with my raranga life as it allows me to feel better about creating less pollution and also means I will be able to afford to attend class and learn more from my classmates and kaiako.
After all the harvesting and processing of the harakeke from Rotorua, I have ended up with very narrow whenu. I feel it might be due to using a very sharp knife to make the cut that exposes the muka. We were shown to use a dull blade which was different from how I usually do this, but I will need to find a medium because it seems as though I am making my cut too deep and wasting a lot of muka. This is quite annoying to put it lightly as I have put a huge amount of work into creating the whenu but don’t really have enough to make a decent sized kete, and all of my whenu are rather different sizes. I suppose this is to be expected as I am at a very experimental stage, testing methods and processes on different whānau of harakeke.
While I was going through that testing phase of the Ruapani, I began to create a kete muka from muka I hade prepared earlier this summer in anticipation of the course starting. I have a lovely harakeke growing at home called parekoretawa, very muka rich, but unfortunately quite short.
I have over the summer created whenu with a 1cm haehae. I found the harakeke to extract very easily during the day and completely dry, no soaking. I also found that by the late afternoon it became harder to extract.
I cut, sized and scored all whenu and then extracted them, and gave each a miro straight away. I then sorted them into thicknesses and separated them and tied them into bundles. I then gave them a hot wash with liquid detergent in the laundry sink until the water ran clear about four times. The thickest of the bundle are what I used to create my first muka kete. I used aho created from 2 strands by 2 made from the Ruapani harakeke. Aho are very difficult to make, fortunately when I shared this with my kaiako, she said that many years later, she still has to work very hard at creating aho. One bit of advice she gave, apart from the demonstration I received in Rotorua, was to, when creating aho, just create aho and nothing else and when creating whenu, just create whenu. Spending longer on one thing brings proficiency.
May
Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini.
My success is not mine alone, it is the success of the collective.
11/04/2022
Feeling a little despondent today. Looking at all the muka I have created from the Rotorua harvest and really unhappy about the results. Many of my whenu are different thicknesses. I realise this has a lot to do with the depth of the scoring prior to extraction. This really bothers me and makes me feel a little hopeless. I have spent a lot of time over the last few weeks working on this and to have so little muka at the end and to have them be so different means I have a lot of work to do to get myself into a position of strength and confidence with muka extraction. If I were to make a kete with what I have just extracted, it would need to be quite long, or have a long fringe at the bottom maybe and also not be very wide. This does not upset me too much as I am usually happy to go with the flow when it comes to the length of my harakeke when making a kete whakairo. This concept of allowing the size of the harakeke to determine the size of a kete makes me feel as though I am working with Papatūānuku, rather than dominating her, in this way, I practice Te Aroha. When I build a loving respectful relationship with the Pā Harakeke, all my needs are met, physically and spiritually.
13/04/2022
After speaking to two of my classmates, I have been given lots of awesome experience on how they prep their muka. One of the things I learned was to top and tail and miro the two whenu from one side of the rau, to keep them together and match them up. This is because of the differences in thickness of each whenu and the balancing out that happens once they are put together. I had not thought of this at all and this revolutionised my process and gave me what I was looking for, more evenness in size of my whenu. I was sooooo happy and since then have had a lot more success as I go. When I look at my first lot harvested in Rotorua, I want to cry and throw them away as they look like a toddler did them.
19/04/2022
Since last writing I have had a bit more success with my muka prep. I have harvested two different plants from the local pā. These are not named and are part of a council planting on the side of the motorway. While not strictly pā harakeke, I feel happy about using what is close to me and there is plenty. This means that the harakeke will not be named but with research I may be able to make a close approximation. Whatever the name, the muka content and the ease of extraction is what I’m looking for.
Figure 2: First harakeke sample from local area.
The first sample is a very dark edged, stiff and upright plant. It is very rich with muka and doesn’t seem too difficult to extract at the site of the plant. Once I get it home however and size, cut and soak, it gets more and more difficult to extract as each day passes. The ends are almost impossible and I find myself trimming more and more off.
Figure 3: Second harakeke sample from local area.
The second sample is a beautiful bright green with a rich red edge. It is a lot softer to the touch and less stiff, but when I make a cut and run my shell along it, there is plenty of beautiful muka inside and the para comes of very easily. It also feels quite wet in my hands so is easy to miro. I got it home and extracted the whole lot all at once to avoid the possibility of it getting more difficult as time wore on.
Meanwhile I have created a checklist of things I like to observe while harvesting. I created the checklist in a word processing program and printed a few out. These I keep alongside the muka they created. This has helped me figure out which muka I prefer to use, how to get the best out of the extraction, where to go to find it again, and what kind of outcomes I get according to the weather, moon and other variables.
At this point I believe it makes sense to separate the different loads that I prepare as my technique still has a long way to go and I improve marginally each time I do it. I may need to put my muka into plastic bags to keep them from getting mixed up. I must remember to ask my classmates with more experience how they store their muka.
05/05/2022
It’s been awhile since I journaled although the experimentation hasn’t stopped. I have created upwards of 200 whenu of varying lengths and thicknesses.
Figure 4: Kete by unknown weaver from an opshop in Melbourne owned by Cori Marsters.
NOHO 7th & 8th May
Noho was wonderful. I am doing my study in Auckland but classes are in Rotorua. It was wonderful to be with everyone finally amongst all the wealth of experience. I really began to see how young I am in my muka journey. Most in the class have already completed kete muka, which meant there was a whole class full of people with experience to share. The best advice comes from those who have walked the path before me. The application of Te Aroha is on full display at noho. The women had established a kitty for snacks that they bought and shared. Many came over to me to ask how I was going and to see if they had some experience to share. It is my belief that kairaranga are keenly aware that the quality of the weaving is a direct result of the quality of the relationships that nourish them. This is why Te Aroha is deeply embedded in raranga.
After looking over the kete that I made, Whāea Tracey gave me some pointers which were backed up by others in the class. One was to prep for my next kete and create whenu that were narrower than the last. This should help with the gaps in my weaving.
Another of the other kaiako brought some kete muka in for me to see. They were absolutely stunning.
In particular, for me, one of unknown origin, found in an op shop in Melbourne.
It was during this noho, that I finally got to spend some one on one time with my kaiako. It had been a long time since I had been in Rotorua. Whāea had a look at my completed kete and was very happy with my work. She asked me to begin my second one and to also incorporate some māwhitiwhiti. This second kete, was to consolidate the skills from the first and to add to them. It was while creating the aho paatahi for the second kete, that Whāea noticed that my work was very gappy. She told me to continue with what I was doing, but when I got back to Auckland to create some new whenu that were about a third smaller and keep the aho I was using, the same size. She also said to miro more softly and looser. Another of my class thought the gaps in my work were due to whenu that were too big, so I felt happy to know how to proceed.
Figure 5: Muka whenu twisted into a kaka, hank.
It was also during this noho that Whāea showed me how to twist my whenu into a kaka. This was revolutionary, as I had bought huge plastic containers for my whenu thinking that I needed to store them straight and full length. These containers were cumbersome and difficult to fit into the car, so I was relieved to know I wouldn't need to use them anymore. She also told me to make a kete for my muka too, I'm looking forward to that. Once back in Auckland I completed the second kete muka and also made the whenu Whāea Tracey asked me to. During the last tutorial I was able to show via zoom and she was more than pleased with my results. I felt so happy and relieved.
21 May 2022
These past two weeks have been murder with mahi. I've not been able to concentrate or really put time into my muka or whatu. I have almost completed the year long level four class I taught entirely online. It was a nightmare alot of the time, but I'm nearing the end. All I need to do is marking and then I can close my program off. It has been an intense year, mostly in lockdown, but the rest still online as Te Wānanga are continuing to exercise extreme caution with the pandemic.
30 May 2022
The month is nearly over and we have a number of things due in the next couple of weeks. I feel disconnected and overwhelmed. The kete muka I've been working on most recently is not going well at all. Whilst I was so over the moon with the size, texture, colour and feel of the whenu I was directed to create, I just cannot seem to get the gauge of the aho correctly. Twice I've tried to make two different sized aho and both times, I have ended up with an inconsistent finish. The first time was a very puckered and wavy effect, the second, big gaps in between whenu. I've made my aho with a very tight miro 2 x 2 strands, and some with a very loose miro 3 x 3 strands. My next experiment will be a loose miro with two strands by 2. I am ever hopeful that I have some progress, as I am beginning to feel a bit frustrated and hopeless about ever getting this right.
June
Tūngia to ururua kia tupu whakaritorito te tupu o te harakeke.
Set the overgrown bush alight, and the new flax shoots will spring up.
02/06/2022
In tutorial today, we were given some pieces to critique.
Figure 6 : Poi Tāniko - Cori Masters
Poi covered in black and white taniko. The handle looks like it's made of muka and black cotton. The ball is an ellipsical shape created by the incremental increase and decrease of warp threads. I assume the handle is made of the warp threads. The taniko pattern consists mainly of diamonds and triangles. It is a very fine looking piece with sombre tones. It has a seriousness to it. The black and white diamonds give it multidimensional depths. Te po and te ao marama come to mind.
Figure 7 : Rāpaki - Karl Leonard
Rāpaki with a wide taniko border at the top edge. Looks like natural undyed muka, darker parts may have been dyed with natural dyes. Darker muka contrasted with white muka to create taniko pattern. Sporadic looking but evenly spaced groupings of hukahuka, different hues from deep caramel to white and attached to a plain kaupapa. The garment looks hard wearing and the bunches of hukahuka give it the appearance of a hieke or pake. Different lengths of hukahuka give a less contrived appearance. The richness of the golds and caramels light up this unassuming piece. It has a roughness in the whiri tie, a masculine energy, but also a lightness and fairy-like quality. I imagine the hukahuka dancing and sparkling in the wind.
Figure 8 : Kaitaka Aronui/Patea - Te Papa Collection
Thin tāniko border top and sides, very wide at the lower edge. Extra dog fur trim on lower third and bottom edge. Shaped with poka. Fine, white muka kaupapa. Ultra luxury, energy, light. Regal. Tāniko patterns are very colourful diamonds and triangles on a deep solid black background. Very difficult to see how many rows of whatu, but there are many and they are so straight and even. I imagine the most senior and experienced kairaranga with the best support team of advisors and access to the best pa harakeke and an exhaustive knowledge of the whānau whakapapa of intended recipient and the purpose for which the garment would be utilized. Epitome of design, planning and execution.
06/06/2022
Things have been very difficult lately. Coordinating ourselves in our group to do the presentation together has been a nightmare. I have found it difficult to navigate as I feel more stressed when there is disharmony, I realise this is a personal issue that has it's roots in my early childhood and subsequent adult relationships. The distance and busyness of each person in our group has meant that it has been difficult to find a time to meet when everyone was available. There was also no one in the group willing to lead. Each of us attempted to allow the others the space to chose what they wanted to do, but as time ticked on, this framework began to cause stress as there was not enough clarity for some. While zoom and facebook calling are wonderful tools for long-distance participation, they do not allow for the broader ongoing and intimate connection that I prefer when working with others. I have felt that this has impacted on the kotahitanga of our group. I have also felt that some in the group have spent too much time fleshing out parts of the 'mock' exhibition, instead of sticking to what the aromatawai requirements were. This was important to do in a general way, but only to link and flesh out the parts of the presentation. There were times when I felt we were wasting precious time talking about unnecessary details, instead of nailing points. To be honest I can't wait for it to be over. I am deriving very little pleasure from the experience. Collaboration can be incredibly taxing, however, all the difficulties I'm experiencing are mine and they are incredibly important lessons in how I would proceed in future projects, which makes all the 'suffering' worthwhile learning. Sticking to the Kaupapa, our shared vision and mahi, and practicing Ngā Ture allowed me to come through this process with my relationships intact. I am also incredibly grateful to my rōpū who allowed me to experience these learnings which I will cherish. And Mauri Ora is what I get when everything is in alignment, when I have done my utmost to live and breathe all these principles in all areas of my life!
08/06/2022
I've had to pull out of Noho this weekend. One of our treasured family members has passed away and the tangi is on Saturday. While I trust that my sons would do me proud representing our family, I just cannot miss it, I must pay my respects and see her off. So, with my groups permission, I have filmed my korero into a powerpoint slide to be played on the day. I have had support from my kaiako and class to concentrate on my whānau and to fulfil my desire to send off my friend alongside our community who she is cherished by. In communicating this to my class and kaiako I practiced Te Whakapono, I then recieved Te Aroha and tautoko to uphold Ngā Ture, to attend the tangi, knowing that I had fulfilled my obligation to my group and class as a whole and also to my whānau. I feel this is a great example of Kaitiakitanga and Mauri Ora!
12/06/2022
In summation of the semester, I can truly say it's been extremely hard and I have been tested. I have no idea how my website will go down, if it will be accepted. I am excited about learning to create a website as I think in these COVID-era times, it pays to have knowledge of other systems of communication. Learning new tools is useful for me as a kaiako, to be able to support my students to be skilled not just in the area of raranga, but in the ways in which they communicate their ideas, and especially in collaboration with others. The presentation part of this course really showed me the importance of being able to clearly communicate with a team and to be able to share information across a broad range of media and other organisations. Finding my online language and presence, is a big part of my development and for further forays into higher education and also business.
I am hoping I will be able to spend much more time in class in semester b as we all know that there is so so much to know and learn when it comes to raranga and whatu and that happens when we spend time together doing it, not in isolation.
I've enjoyed meeting a whole new raranga whānau and contributing what I can. I have been impressed with the calibre of the women in all areas, not just their weaving, but their kotahitanga, manaakitanga, tautokotanga and real true practice of ngā takepu, me ngā uara. I have felt welcomed and nurtured by them and know that we will be there for each other a long time after our programme finishes. The raranga whānau is rich, deep, and global, maybe even universal! And I'm a part of it, and it feels wonderful. I am home.
Noho July 1st-3rd - Collective Exhibition
2nd July 2022
This noho has been absolutely awesome. The class have spent a lot of time and energy planning our exhibition. I'm so grateful for all the work that gets done while I'm away in Auckland. I rely heavily on the women that live here to share the mahi they do when I am unable to participate. Fortunately for me, they have never hesitated in sharing all their knowledge and workings with me. Their constant koha contributes to the kotahitanga of this whānau and creates a space of inspiration, support, safety and love. It is a challenge to feel worthy and to maintain the balance, ensuring that my koha is as equal as I can manage. I have never experienced a group like this and I cherish it with all my heart.