PIRI COWIE
NEW ZEALAND, KĀI TAHU, NGĀPUHI, NGĀTI KAHU
Tuna, hao, eels are highly valued within Māori culture, they are a taoka, culturally significant species and are endemic to New Zealand.
Mahika kai - are our cultural practices of harvesting our traditional indigenous foods, resources and being in the places of our ancestors. Engaging in mahika kai, creates strong connections with our whenua, land, awa, rivers, puna, springs, roto, lakes, moana, oceans. Roles of manaakitaka, caring for people and kaitiakitaka, caring for our natural environment are instilled in the activities of mahika kai, where the transference of intergenerational indigenous knowledge continues.
These artworks honour our taoka, hao, tuna, the waters they live in and our indigenous cultural practices of mahika kai.
Hao
2020
Bronze on Pounamu, greenstone
Te Whānau Tuna
2020
Bronze
Ko au te moana, ko te moana ko au
I am the ocean and the ocean is me
2018
Digital print on sustainable fabric
Photography by Sampson Karst - Kāi Tahu