Whare tangata
By Chanz Mikaere
Nov 2014
Whare Tangata representation is scarce amongst academic and art sources: racist and colonising agendas have largely succeeded in absorbing the interests of tangata whenua. My interest in the dissemination of Whare Tangata knowledge goes hand in hand with my personal involvement in Protest.
Hey!
All you Furry Feminists!
Take your Verbose Vaginas and Muff Monologues elsewhere!
Take your Privileged Pussy HOME!
Keep your subjection, your violence, your escalating Box Babble, and your Collective Psychosis!
Keep your blood soaked words!
Your tokenism and DENIAL
Your Pre-emptive Strikes and Collateral Damage
Own YOUR label, Terrorists!
Fuck your Master Narrative!
This is not Tamatekapua
Get your damn shoes off!
Least you step on my seams of Trust…
Your presence leaves my precious parched!
Sheeeit! So, you are a Feminist…and what? Listening to your whinging gets my huru-scape so dry….
I’m FLAMMABLE!
This is TEKE TALK. Where the Tore is tickled and tantalised!
This is for the Daughters of the Dawn Maiden and Death Goddess.
Our obsidian teeth warn: WHUCK OFF!
Feel the wrath of my Re-Vulva!
Colonising Cunts!
Your quest for indigeneity is over.
Power and Cuntrol is ours.
If you were scared before,
Now you should be.
I have been hesitant about bringing the discussion of Whare Tangata into this space. There are several reasons why. The first part has been the selection of artworks appropriate to the topic of Homebirth, particularly as my own experience of giving birth was medically intrusive and in a hospital. The second reason stems from a need to keep tribal narratives private. And the third came from a sense of whakamā and not wanting to put korero into spaces where there is potential for the subject subtleties to get lost in translation. I have provided some translation for clarity yet have not disclosed full whakapapa narratives.
Ko te Whare Tangata te kohanga tuatahi o te mātauranga
The Womb is the first nest of knowledge.
“Whare Tangata is my unquestionable source of sacred power from which I express my Tino Rangatiratanga. Whare Tangata as a context is established on my terms. Whare Tangata is my space to stand, as wahine, an artist and a mother; conscious, resistant, and transformative.”
I maintain that the topic of Whare Tangata, the emotions attached to it are very real and can only be taken care of properly if approached within a Māori Women’s perspective. My work supports the mana of Whare Tangata by reflecting the dual strength and vulnerability of that mana: the duality and balance of wahine and tāne elements in the Whare Tangata. This work acknowledges that during ikura (menstruation), hapūtanga (pregnancy) and whānautanga (birth) Whare Tangata are strong and vulnerable, but never weak. In affirming this stance, I am always mindful of the sacredness of women.
The selected Artworks for this article are inspired by the whakapapa narratives of Hineteiwaiwa, Whakaotirangi.
Hineteiwaiwa weaves the threads of kōrero throughout. Her role, as guardian of weaving and birth reconnects whakapapa, whenua and whānau and Whare Tangata. It is Hineteiwaiwa who guides me as a wahine, an artist and mother throughout this journey of decolonisation.
I take inspiration from kuia as repositories of knowledge and am guided by the narratives of Papatūānuku, Hine Ahu One, Hinetītama, Hine nui Te Po and in particular, Hineteiwaiwa. The Whare Tānga represents the continuous link that exists between land, mother, and child as each is bound in a cycle of nourishment and care. The function of the literal Whare Tangata is to create, sustain and give birth to life from the joining of male and female elements. Māna Tangata acknowledges the complementary nature of female and male elements: inclusion and exclusion were not considered in a relationship of dominance. I create and manipulate a Whare Tangata. The forms are symbolic.
The weaving together of light and dark to recapture self-determination narratives: reaffirming interconnectedness; remembering whakapapa.
To restore the balance between wahine and tāne, both must re-learn to negotiate the space that is Whare Tangata.
Materials and Process
Weaving canvas provides me with cultural safety. Exercising my kawa as Te Arawa and Ngai Te Rangi changes my process from one of conventional harakeke preparation to one of re-interpreting tikanga, reforming contemporary cultural practice. I did not want to harvest harakeke that I did not have a whakapapa connection to. I had to source a material that could be easily manipulated, retained similar qualities to harakeke, something that was plentiful and cheap. I found all of this in canvas.
As I progressed with Whare Tangata kōrero, my understanding of the relationship between narrative and technical process became clearer. Each thread woven became invested with the tapu and tikanga I had created: each thread woven reflected the complementary and intertwined energy of Mana Tangata.
Treating canvas as harakeke, cutting, and manipulating, as we would for weaving, also worked to deconstruct Western Art practice. Conventionally, canvas in painting is used solely as a surface for the paint. I retained the element of painting on canvas, but transformed the form of the final shape from a two-dimensional to a three-dimensional image. The act of cutting each strand became part of the deconstruction process. The challenge was to re-construct the shredded canvas in the Whare Tangata form: deconstructing a western Art practice and in the process constructing a Whare Tangata.
The resulting form was developed from the kete, to represent a woven vessel for gestating tangata. Manipulation of the woven kete form mimicked the shape of the vulva, the edge of the kete becoming the teeth adorning the labia of Hine Nui Te Pō.
The deconstruction of Western art practice and manipulation of material to construct a Māori art form was my way “decolonising” process: re-introducing the Māori face from the colonial gaze; returning to Whare Tangata memory. Weaving the canvas transformed a flat two dimensional medium, into a three dimensional form: culminating in a woven vessel of protection symbolising Mana Tangata; repeating some of the same indicators of vulva in whakairo rākau.
This is where the woven materials start to reflect whakapapa narratives. The colours of the woven Whare Tangata include purple, brown and pink canvas which specifically alludes to the kumara brought to the Te Arawa rohe by Whakaotirangi (8th wife of Tamatekapua). These colours also reflect the colours of female genitalia making the links to Wear Tangata more explicit.
Most of my works throughout my career as an Artist heavily reference genitals. I am sure that many psychologists would have a field day with why… for me, the answer is very simple. The teke (vagina) and ure (penis) are tools for the creation of whakapapa. There is a potency and visceral reaction to the use of genitals as political symbols. I purposely use these to give strength to my kaupapa of honouring Whare Tangata and the roles of wahine in Māori society.
I can only speak from my experiences. I believe that as wahine, tāne and tamariki, we must consider further utilisation of Te Whare Tangata as a framework, conceptually and methodologically. Te Whare Tangata encapsulates Mana Tangata, Māna Whanau, Māna Haou, Māna Iwi and Mana Atua. The cycles of menstruation, hapūtanga and menopause show our bodies transforming over time, over months, over years, over generations. The cycles are repeated endlessly, continually contracting and expanding, regenerating, and creating anew. There are a number of different processes that happen simultaneously: synergistic and organic. So, the potential for the Whare Tangata to transform is ever present.
Like the Whare Tangata we are organic, receptive and responsive. Each person is an embodiment of the many dimensions of Whare Tangata. It is our ability to respond and engage with the changing world that will ensure the opportunity for our descendants to thrive consciously engaging in Te Ao Hurihuri to emerge as empowered people.
Each of us a woven thread in the vessel of Whare Tangata.
Chanz Mikaere.
Iwi: Te Arawa, Mātaatua
As a known Activist, whose protest actions inform her Art, Chanz gained recent notoriety for having artworks banned from a planned exhibition by the Rotorua District Council. Self-proclaimed “Tero-ist” and “Kupu Sniper”, Chanz is a Sculptor, Weaver, Writer, and Poet who thoroughly enjoys a good old fashioned rumble!
Whare Tangata representation is scarce amongst academic and art sources: racist and colonising agendas have largely succeeded in absorbing the interests of tangata whenua. My interest in the dissemination of Whare Tangata knowledge goes hand in hand with my personal involvement in Protest.
