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- Title
KI TŌ RINGA KI NGĀ RĀKAU Ā TE PĀKEHĀ? DRAWINGS AND SIGNATURES OF MOKO BY MAORI IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY.
- Authors
ELLIS, NGĀRINO
- Abstract
Self-portraits using moko 'tattoo' have a relatively short history (1815-1884) within Māori culture, yet they provide many revelations about Maori and how they saw themselves. These took two forms: those which were made on land deeds across the country7, and those made on request for Europeans. Examples range from a letter to King William IV in 1831 signed by 13 Ngāpuhi chiefs, to a self-portrait by Te Peehi Kupe of Ngāti Toa Rangitira made in Liverpool, England and two drawings by Tuai of his Ngāre Raumati brother Korokoro. I argue here that these drawings should be read as part of a unique system of Māori self-portraiture in which the physiognomic details so critical in Western European traditions of self-portraiture are replaced by complex forms of moko. In doing so, they provide a snapshot into cross-cultural engagement and interaction between Maori and Pakeha, and suggest a deeper level of Māori understanding of such practices than previously thought. That these drawings are regarded as the ancestors by their descendants today is evidence of the enduring power of these tohu 'sign'.
- Subjects
NEW Zealand self-portraits; SELF-portraits; MAORI (New Zealand people); NGA Puhi (New Zealand people); PAKEHA (New Zealand people); TATTOOING; 19TH century drawing; SIGNATURES (Writing); NINETEENTH century; HISTORY
- Publication
Journal of the Polynesian Society, 2014, Vol 123, Issue 1, p29
- ISSN
0032-4000
- Publication type
Essay
- DOI
10.15286/jps.123.1.29-66