Te Hono Wai - Where Waters Meet: Sculpture by Jo Torr

The exhibition title Te Hono Wai – Where waters meet is a metaphor for peoples meeting and cultural exchange occurring. Where waters meet might be an estuary; freshwater meeting saltwater, one culture interacting with another through an ebb and flow of understanding and misunderstanding and ultimately affecting change on both parties.

The exhibition highlights encounters between Māori and European in the early 19th century both here in the Bay of Islands and in England.

Five of the artworks highlight the experiences of Tuai and Tītere, two young Māori chiefs who travelled to England in 1818. These works draw attention to the way Māori travelled the world prior to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi seeking new knowledge, useful goods and technologies, while simultaneously sharing their own knowledge to assist in the formulation of a Maori/English grammar. It was thought both Maori and English peoples would benefit from the exchange.

Tuai and Tītere were sponsored by Rev. Samuel Marsden to travel to England where they were hosted by members of the Church Missionary Society. Their visit was documented through portraits by artist James Barry, by letters the pair sent home and from contemporary European eyewitness accounts, both before and after the visit.

Artist Talk: 3rd July 12noon