The unveiling of the large, 3+ meter Vairaka pou is scheduled for Friday, 19 September, at 6 pm. Lining the tāhuhu spine of Te Marae o te Umu Kai o Hau, Tui's pou will be the first contemporary carving created by a woman at Pātaka. Aue to manea! We can't wait!
Turou, oro mai, aere mai - all welcome!
Vairaka, (Wairaka) 2025
Macrocarpa wood, pigment, fibre
This pouroto (pūrakau) has been entrusted to us by Papa Ma’ara Maeva, a knowledge holder from Ma’uke, in the southern islands of Avaiki Nui ‘Ipukarea, today known as the Cook Islands. Papa Ma’ara has an MA from the University of Auckland and currently works at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland Museum as a Learning Specialist. Fluent in Te Reo Māori o Avaikinui, an educator and archaeologist with over 25 years of experience, we are tremendously grateful to Papa Ma’ara for this revelatory story, one that reconnects us to ancestral genealogies across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa and honours its endurance over millennia.
Meitaki Maa’ata, special gratitude is also extended to Mama Marilyn Kohlhase (MNZM) and Mama Grace Hutton (QSM), Kaitiaki Taonga of the Moana Collection at Te Papa Tongarewa, for their guidance and support throughout this process.
Vairaka was born on Ma’uke. Vai has many meanings, most profoundly the image of shimmering water, while Raka is a shortened form of Rakamaomao, an atua of the wind. Together, her name means the glistening waters of Raka.
Vairaka is a descendant of Ùke Ariki and Tangi’ianui, with papa’anga (genealogical) links to Ma’uke through her father Toroa, but also to Rarotonga, through her mother.
Vairaka was a ta’unga tohunga specialist tapa maker, and renowned as a matakite seer, gifted with insight and knowledge that encompassed incantation and sacred chants designed to invoke spiritual power. On the Marae, Vairaka was a respected leader from the tribal stronghold of Anua, located in East Ma’uke, and carried the maru tatau, marking her as guardian and protector of her people. According to lore, the making of the vaka Te Mata Atua (Mataatua), was felled and hewn in East Ma’uke, and the tamanu mahogany-planked hull formed the left side of the vaka; left representing va’ahine power and female resilience.
Guided by her father, the navigator Toroa, Vairaka departed Ma’uke on Te Mata Atua (Mataatua) vaka, and journeyed to Aotearoa, passing through a passage called Avanā in Rarotonga to get there.
In Aotearoa, there are many versions of the Wairaka pouroto (pūrakau) story, and numerous landmarks that continue to bear witness to this ancestress’s courage, mana, and wisdom through the ages, from Ngāti Ira, Te Whakatōhea, Ngai Tamahaua, Ngāti Awa, and Te Whānau a Apanui (to name but a few).
From Ngāti Awa, descendants of the Mataatua (Te Mata Atua) waka, ‘Kia Whakatāne ake au I ahu! Let me act like a man!’ It is perhaps the most famous and refers to Wairaka’s ability as a woman to play a decisive role in times of crisis. As a ta’unga with lineage transmutation abilities to see ‘through the power of second sight’, that which was tapu, seized the oe (hoe) paddle; in another version, hoisted the sail, to save the women, children onboard the vaka from going adrift.
It was this whakataukī that stirred our artist Tui Hobson to carve a sister wood from the realm of Tāne, an offering, inspired by a deep respect and humility for Vairaka (Wairaka)’s history. The pou is decorated with stylized pua tiare and lashing motifs that outline the form of a protective cloak. From Ma’uke, Papa Ma’ara has also shared patterns sourced from Ma’uke sacred sites. Ritually wrapped in aro’a (love), the idiom, ‘E pō te va i raru ei a Vairaka,’ is still sung today in the oral traditions of Ma’uke, a reminder of our ancestral connections, mana vāhine resistance, and the spirit of liberation.
TUI HOBSON is one of a handful of contemporary Vāhine carvers of Kuki Airani descent. A practicing sculptor with over 30 years of experience, Tui is the recipient of the Pacific Aniva Arts Residency Award, a partnership between Pātaka Art+Museum and Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa for 2025.
