Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Maori Art-A Conversation with Ngarino Ellis
About this event series
Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Maori Art is a landmark account in words and pictures of Māori art, by Māori art historians—from Polynesian voyaging waka to contemporary Māori artists.
He toi whakairo, he mana tangata.
Through artistic excellence, there is human dignity.
Hear from Ngarino Ellis as she introduces audiences to this monumental volume, written by a trio of Māori art historians, that focuses on exploring the idea of Indigenous art histories that value Indigenous voices, perspectives and objectives, making art history more relevant and less Eurocentric.
Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Maori Art is the winner of the New Zealand BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction and has been shortlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book Award. It will be available for purchase at the event and author Ngarino Ellis will sign copies following the program.
About Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Maori Art
Deidre Brown, Ngarino Ellis, and Jonathan Mane-Wheoki explore a wide field of art practices, including raranga (plaiting), whatu (weaving), moko (tattooing), whakairo (carving), rākai (jewellery), kākahu (textiles), whare (architecture), toi whenua (rock art), painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, installation art, digital media, and film. The works discussed span a period from the arrival of Pacific voyagers eight hundred years ago to the contemporary artists working around the world today. With expansive chapters and breakout texts focusing on individual artists, movements, and events, Toi Te Mana is an essential book for anyone interested in te ao Māori.
Presenters
Featured Author: Ngarino Ellis
Ngarino Ellis (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou) is a professor of art history at Waipapa Taumata Rau The University of Auckland. She is the author of ‘A Whakapapa of Tradition: One Hundred Years of Ngāti Porou Carving 1830-1930’ and co-editor of ‘Te Puna. Maori Art from Te Tai Tokerau Northland’ (with Deidre Brown) and ‘Te Ata. Maori Art from the East Coast, New Zealand’ (with Witi Ihimaera). Ellis’s curatorial projects include exhibitions at the Linden Museum, Stuttgart and Auckland Art Gallery.
Moderator: Christopher Philipp
Christopher Philipp is a Collections Manager in the Gantz Family Collections Center at the Field Museum. He is responsible for the care of the Museum's anthropology collections from the Pacific Islands. Philipp has worked and assisted with the African ethnographic, Meso, Central, and South American archaeological and ethnographic, and Southeast Asian collections in the Anthropology Department.
