Artist and carver Natalie Kere is on a mission to educate the world that there are many kōhatu (rocks) like pakohe (argillite), her Ngāti Kuia iwi stone, that are just as beautiful as pounamu (greenstone).
“I think a lot of people that want to buy taonga, they think that it’s just pounamu from the West Coast, that’s the only taonga. It’s just showing them that it can be different and it can be carved beautifully and hold the same mana that you get from wearing pounamu,” Kere told The Hui.
Her jewellery highlights the inner beauty of rocks, which look rather ordinary from the outside.
“The stones that you walk over can be beautiful taonga.”
Natalie and her whānau have been hunting for rocks all their lives, the exercise providing much more than merely the raw materials for her jewellery.
“Because my family’s here, it has a really special meaning. All of us have had some really hard times in the last few years, and this has brought us together to support each other.”
Her whenua, just outside of Whakatū, Nelson, is one of the country’s richest mineral belts, where pakohe, or argillite, is found in abundance.
The hard stone was once used by Māori as a carving tool, and it’s that quality that’s helped with Natalie’s healing as well.
“I’m carving most of those stones that are hard, and I feel that is the strength. Like I would take that as that gives me strength to deal with things, to carry on,” Kere adds.
When Kere had to quit her full-time job as a makeup artist five years ago because of her painful endometriosis condition, it was rocks that became her rongoa and her purpose.
“As hard as it’s been, it’s actually driven me more to want to really succeed, and to not give up on my carving just because I’m sick. That hasn’t stopped me. It’s made me way more determined.”
Just like she’s pushing the boundaries with pakohe, Natalie also raised a few eyebrows as a self-taught, wāhine carver. But the criticism she initially received has only strengthened her resolve to continue carving kōhatu from her garage in Nelson.
Natalie’s creativity extends beyond carving jewellery, with her pounamu-inspired resin artwork seen gracing the entrance to the Motueka Library, in her old home town.
“To have an artist in this building who has her roots here, who is known to us, who can whakapapa to many of us here, is such a beautiful thing,” says Donna McLeod, who helped coordinate the artwork for the library.
Kere’s work has also captured international audiences after a digital copy of her art was showcased on the Times Square billboard in New York.
By Ruwani Perera from The Hui
