Twenty-four carvings by master carver Rangi Kipa have made it to the Lyon Biennale, but the permits required to move them across international borders arrived only hours before they were due to leave Aotearoa.
The French import permits were granted on departure day, while New Zealand’s export permits arrived the day before.
It is the latest example of the hurdles Māori artists face under CITES rules governing protected materials — rules designed to stop illegal wildlife trade, but which can also prevent taonga from travelling internationally.
Rangi, who is currently in residence in Lyon says whakairo is not simply an artform, it is a knowledge practice.
“Through carving, I share stories of whakapapa, customary relationships with marine mammals, and the cultural significance these materials continue to hold for Māori communities today.”
Permits denied
At the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture in Hawai‘i in 2024, traditional taonga intended for display could not enter the United States, so photographs were exhibited instead.
The four Māori artists involved — Rangi Kipa, Pena Makoare, Ngahina Hohaia and Sian Montgomery-Neutze — wore lanyards marked “Permit Declined”, making the refusal part of the exhibition.
In Lyon, visitors can see the taonga themselves.
Smaller carvings are displayed at the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, while a hoeroa is presented at Les Grandes Locos, where Rangi is carving locally sourced bone and speaking with visitors about his kaupapa alongside Dr Lisa Renard.
Taarati Taiaroa, curator of contemporary Māori art at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, describes the presentation as the largest collection of taonga parāoa shown in Europe or Aotearoa.
Māori artist and advocate Bonita Bigham (Ngāruahine, Te Ātiawa) has also taken the kaupapa into international CITES discussions. She says the issue affects whānau who may travel with treasured taonga without realising they could be confiscated at an international border.
“It’s a real risk that our people run all the time,” Bonita says.
Taking the taonga to France has involved Māori artists and advocates working alongside Toi Māori Aotearoa, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, the Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa, the Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai, the New Zealand Embassy in France and the New Zealand Cultural Diplomacy International Programme.
Creative New Zealand has supported the artists’ international participation and their longer-running work with DOC on CITES.
The wider work continues in November, when Bonita will attend the CITES Standing Committee meeting in Geneva alongside DOC representatives, with support from Creative New Zealand.
The committee will consider a paper on the participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in its processes. The paper also addresses the movement of ceremonial and cultural objects containing protected materials.
Bonita says she is encouraged to see Indigenous peoples included in the discussion and can feel momentum building, but says more work is needed before the rules reflect the cultural reasons people carry taonga.
“My ideal, my dream is that there is some mechanism by which we are able to travel with our taonga without the risk of having them confiscated within CITES countries,” she says.
