Description
Title: Heitiki
Artist: Hermann Salzmann
Iwi: Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Koata
Description: Whakairo
Mai noa i ngā tau 1980 e noho pūranga ana tēnei rākau. E takoto tūporo ana, ā, i te takanga roatanga tē matau iho he aha te whakairo ka hua mai i a ia. Āe, kua āta waiho mā te rākau tonu ia e kōrero i tōna kaupapa. Kātahi nō tērā tau 2023 ka whakaaro ki te whakairo he heitiki.
Ko ‘Tiki’ e tohu ana i te kahu kāore anō kia whānau mai, te kukune i roto i te kōpū o tōna whaea me te tīmatanga o te ora. Ka kitea noatia ētahi momo puta noa i ngā whakairo o te Uru me te Rāwhiti o te a-Kiwa. Heoi anō, ko tētahi atu ariā mō te heitiki hei tohu i a Tiki, te tangata pūrākau tuatahi.
Ko tōna papamuri whakairo e whakaahua ana i te Poutama (te ako tūroa tonu), ka whakaatuhia e Tiki te takanga o te wā e tūhono mai ana i te inamata, te nāianei, te anamata me te whakaū i te whakapapa pūmau tonu.
This timber has been in storage since the 1980’s. It sat as a block of wood, and I didn’t know for a long-time what carving would result from it. Yes, I have deliberately let the timber speak of its own purpose. Then last year in 2023 I decided to carve a hei-Tiki (Tiki ornament for the neck).
‘Tiki’ represents the unborn embryo, the foetus in its mother’s womb and the beginning of life. Various forms are common throughout Western and Eastern Polynesia carving. However, another theory is that heitiki represents Tiki, the mythical first human.
Set on a carved background depicting the Poutama design, (lifelong learning), Tiki describes the journey through time that interconnects past, present, and future and affirms the continuation of whakapapa.
Photo Credit: Wiremu Grace
Materials: Tōtara, Pāua shell, Briwax
Freight: Arranged by email
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