Events

Āhuataka: A Wānaka of Kāi Tahu Woven Adornment celebrates the living practice of traditional Māori weaving founded in ancestral connection and cultural continuity, curated by CoCA Toi Moroki’s 2025 Emerging Curator Dr Ereni Pūtere. The exhibition brings together a wānaka (community) of Kāi Tahu arts practitioners including Paula Rigby, Fayne Robinson, Isaac Te Awa and Ereni Pūtere to share how whakakai (adornments) are crafted with ancestral methods to represent whakapapa (ancestral connection) and cultural identity in our personal dress. Their whakakai stands alongside taoka tupuna (ancestral treasures) held by Canterbury Museum.

Through bridging the traditional and contemporary, Āhuataka honours weaving today as an unbroken tradition of artistic excellence passed to them from their tūpuna (ancestors) that continues to craft new taoka that carry their whakapapa and Kāi Tahutaka (tribal identity) in this ao hurihuri, the ever-moving contemporary world.

Āhuataka: A Wānaka of Kāi Tahu Woven Adornment runs until 9 November, at CoCA Toi Moroki, 66 Gloucester St.

Image caption: A selection of whakakai woven by Ereni Pūtere that are on display in the exhibition.