The hidden remnants of Te Waihorotiu stream and the mana of wāhine have been brought into view in the Auckland CBD through the unveiling of two major new bronze statues.
Crowds gathered near the new Te Waihorotiu train station on Victoria Street West in a ceremony led by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei on Wednesday to celebrate the two towering artworks.
The works named Wāhine and Horotiu were crafted through a collaboration between Te Hā Noa mana whenua working group and Auckland Council as part of a project to regenerate the area, which is predicted to see thousands with the opening of the new City Rail Line (CRL).
Richard Hills from the Policy, Planning and Development Committee at Auckland Council says the artwork is a pivotal part of a plan to add stories from mana whenua to the design of the city.
“They’re bringing the Māori culture and identity back to the city centre; a lot of it was lost over many generations...for our young people and next generations to see themselves in this artwork.”
Artists say the pieces were influenced by ahurea Māori, whenua, and whakapapa.
Meaning behind the art
Decades after being buried beneath concrete, the mauri of Te Waihorotiu stream and the life that once teemed from it are now seen again.
Horotiu is a 7.2-metre-long statue depicting a tuna kūwharuwharu (longfin eel), which were once abundant in the stream that flowed where the street is today.
Chris Bailey (Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Porou, Te Aupouri), co-designer with his partner Sally Smith, says development has restricted Te Waihorotiu stream to underground pipes, saying the statue now sits where it used to run.
Bailey says the significance of the statue is also made through the way it was crafted by Tāngata Whenua and Tāngata Tiriti.
“I feel awfully humbled that both Sally and I collaborated on this. We could create a wayfinder for people”.
The art piece includes a water fountain which he hopes will help visitors feel the mauri of the stream.
“I hope people experience, when they come and look at this, is just a sense of relief. A lot of these buildings around here are full of people who sit at desks and computers all day, so I’m only imagining there’d be a sense of tension after eight hours sitting in an office”.
Standing 3.7 metres tall at the station threshold is Wāhine, a silicon bronze sculpture depicting a Māori woman performing a karanga.
Co-created by master carver Arekatera (Katz) Maihi (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Tainui, Ngāpuhi) and weaver Beronia Scott (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei), the figure stands on a basalt plinth and meets the gaze of travellers to greet them as they exit the new railway station.
Maihi says the statue pays homage to the 1960s sculpture, A Māori Figure in a Kaitaka Cloak by Molly Macalister on Auckland’s waterfront, but that it is also for wāhine from the past, present and future.
“Tuatahi ki te whakanui ngā wāhine, ngā mahi a tātou wāhine, tukuna whakaaro ki ngā kuia o mua, te whakanui ā rātou mahi i whakatō nei kei roto i ngā wāhine o ēnei rā,” he says.
Maihi hopes that the statue and all it represents will be felt for generations.
“Hei te wā ka mate au, ka hinga au, ka tū tonu tō tātou mahi me tēnei kaupapa. Ko te mea nui ka whakaatu ki te iwi tana kōrero me tana kaupapa, koira te mea nui ki au,” he says.
