Tukua taku pīrere kia whakaparirau
Kia topa i runga i te hau e pupuhi mai nei
Mā ngā tūpuna hei arataki tana haere
I waenganui i te rangi e tū nei
Me te papa e takoto nei
Ki tēnā maunga, ki tēnā raorao
Ki tēnā nehenehe, ki tēnā kāinga
Ki reira ruirui atu ai i ngā kano i pau i a ia te kai
I mōmona ai tōna puku, i ora ai ia
Me kore noa e tupu mai he rākau hou
Hei kāinga taupua mō ngā manu o te wao
Tūturu whakamaua kia tīna
Haumi e, hui e
Tāiki e

Let my fledgling be equipped with wings
So that it may soar on the winds that blow here
May the ancestors guide it as it travels
Between the sky that stands above
And the earth that rests below
Visiting the mountains, the lowlands
The forests and the villages
Dispersing as it goes the seeds it fed on
That sustained it and kept it in good condition
In the hope that a new tree will grow
As a temporary home for the birds of the forest
Tūturu whakamaua kia tīna
Haumi e, hui e
Tāiki e

Pushing the boundaries of contemporary Māori art, the debut solo exhibition Ōtairongo by artist Maree Sheehan seeks to interpret and represent the identity of wāhine Māori through audio-portraiture, experienced within the realm of Hine Raukatauri. 

Ōtairongo presents audio portraits of three mana wahine Māori - Moana Maniapoto, Te Rita Papesch and Ramon Te Wake through the use of immersive binaural sound-capture technologies. These works are presented in darkness, elevating aural perception and approaching a renegotiation of how wāhine Māori might be interpreted and represented.

Presented in association with Auckland Arts Festival, Ōtairongo was the first exhibition to be presented in the new Artspace Aotearoa gallery on the ground floor of Karangahape Road. Alongside the exhibition we also presented Rongo², a dinner with award-winning chefs Kasey and Karena Bird responding to each of the portraits, course by course.

Experience the portraits here. 
‍