Weaving Magic – Erenora Puketapu-Hetet
When one speaks of renaissance in weaving one might consider Erenora Puketapu-Hetet, weaver and cultural leader a major contributor to the Maori cultural renaissance and a key instigator of the push to turn Maori weaving from a craft into an art form. Her steel wire and paua-shell cloak, made on the theme of the Maori fishing rights settlement was part of ‘The Eternal Thread’ Exhibition that toured the US between August 2005 to June 2006.
The display was considered the most significant exhibit of Maori weaving ever to have left the country. It represented the work of artists expressed in traditional, contemporary and abstract forms. “The Eternal Thread” was so named because Maori believed that weaving linked them with their ancestors who came from Asia through Polynesia to New Zealand.
Korowai
The exhibit featured rare and precious cloaks from the collections of the Hetet family, the Te Kanawa family and other weaving dynasties. The cloaks were not only exquisite works of art but seen as coats of leadership and spiritual protection reflecting the status of tribal leaders among their people. Maori believe that a cloak becomes empowered by the status and spiritual power or mana of the owner and as a result the mana of the cloak increases when worn. Included in the exhibition were large photos of Maori ancestors wearing cloaks providing evidence of the significance of the cloak within the culture.
Weaving, once used to clothe, furnish or decorate, is now sometimes used by a new generation of artists for broader, interpretive meaning. The exhibit’s abstract works in metal, shells and fabric are based on traditional forms and techniques. Erenora’s family had six pieces in the show. Among them are flax cloaks adorned with feathers and a delicate stainless-steel woven abstract kete adorned with paua shell, the New Zealand abalone. The name of the basket is Quota of Shells.
“There’s a quota now of 10 paua per day per family,” said Erenora. She said the New Zealand Government had now imposed a limit whereas once upon a time the shellfish were a staple in the Maori diet. Erenora was a daughter of two cultures. Her mother Vera, was a first generation New Zealander of English descent while it was her father, Ihala Puketapu of Te Atlawa, a well-known Maori leader in the Hutt Valley. He founded the Walwhetu Marae.
Tu Tangata
They moved to Te Kuiti, where Erenora was schooled in korowai or cloak-weaving techniques by her husband’s grandmother, Rangimarie Hetet. Her English grandmother taught her quilting. One of the decorative works at her Hetet Studios is entitled “Tu Tangata,” a quilted flax wall hanging of feathers in hues of brown and blue from the native takahe, pukeko and kiwi.
Erenora said it represented the many Maori tribes. She said she made it after the New Zealand Government ruled in the 1980s that Maori communities could have more autonomy. In her work in general, Puketapu-Hetet had woven together traditions of both her Maori heritage and her English ancestry. Hetet said Maori who learn to weave are taught to be sensitive to nature and themselves. “The difference between Maori weavers and other cultures is our approach,” she said. “One of the first things taught is the smell.” Part of the pleasure of owning a kete is its fragrance. “Also, touch and taste,” she said.
Kono Baskets, Taaniko and Tukutuku
She was from the Te Atiawa iwi or people, grew up in Waiwhetu, Lower Hutt where she sat with aunts while they wove kono or baskets for a hangi to raise funds for a new marae. The older women were weaving kono and Erenora ws encouraged to help by trimming off the unwanted ends. She was 10 years old at the time. They were her first steps toward becoming a weaver.
By the time the marae was built in the 1950s, she had learned taaniko, a pre-European twining weaving technique. By the time she was 18 years old she had graduated to weaving tukutuku panels. Around this time she also met and married Rangi Hetet the master carver brought in to help with the job. Erenora and Rangi conserved works at the National Museum. While there they developed intern programmes to train young Maori in museum skills. The Hetets then established the Maori Treasures complex at Waiwhetu providing an outlet for work from marae in the region.
She was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002 for services to weaving. She said, “Maori weaving is full of symbolism and hidden meanings embodied with the spiritual values and beliefs of the Maori people. Weaving is more than just a product of manual skills. From the simple rourou food basket to the prestigious kahu kiwi [kiwi feather cloak], weaving is endowed with the very essence of the spiritual values of Maori people. The ancient Polynesian belief was that the artist was a vehicle through whom the gods create”.
The Tikanga of Weaving
Traditional Maori weaving has its tikanga or protocols that are observed throughout the weaving stages, from planting through to harvesting and even the preparation of the fibre. The tikanga is continued through the artistic design of each work and to the completion of the weaving. Among the more traditionally ‘observant’ Maori there is a quite extensive protocol both for gathering the leaves and for working them into objects.
To this end, “a prayer of thanks or karakia may be said before cutting. Flax is not cut at night or in the rain or snow. Only enough flax is cut to complete the weaving project. Flax is not cut by women who are menstruating although they are able to weave. These sorts of requirements and prohibitions indicate the sacredness of the act of weaving. Mahi raranga or the art of weaving has always me fascinated because of it’s simple but elegant beauty she said.”
Sadly for the art form of traditional Maori weaving in N.Z. Erenora Puketapu-Hetet passed away at the relatively young age of 65 years old, nevertheless her influence and spirit lives on through her work.
