HURIWHENUA performance

This exhibition celebrates 19th-century Kāi Tahu rakatira and political leader Hōri Kerei (H.K.) Taiaroa. Brought together with contemporary artwork, archive materials, and taoka tuku iho, this exhibition offers a view into his life and legacy.

Originally named Huriwhenua, he was christened Hōri Kerei (H.K.) after the Governor at the time, Sir George Grey. Kāi Tahu elders continued to call him Huriwhenua.

Hōri Kerei passed away on the 4th of August, 1905, in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington. To commemorate this significant 120 year anniversary, Taiaroa Royal will perform HURIWHENUA, the dance piece which pairs with his newly created artwork in the exhibition.

Taiaroa Royal (Te Arawa, Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Raukawa, Uenukukōpako) is a descendant of H.K. Taiaroa, currently living near Lake Ōkāreka, in Rotorua. He is the artistic director of Ōkāreka Dance Company, a contemporary dance company with indigenous values at its core, which was founded in 2007. Taiaroa trained at the New Zealand School of Dance, graduating in 1984. He has since performed with major dance companies both at home and abroad, including The Royal New Zealand Ballet, Douglas Wright and Dancers, Michael Parmenter’s Commotion Company, Black Grace, Orotokare and Atamira Dance Company.

Please note: where there is limited seating capacity, priority seating will be given to those who need it.

This exhibition has been developed in collaboration with Te Rūnaka o Ōtākou and the Riki Te Mairaki Ellison Taiaroa Whānau Trust.

10.30am Monday 4 August
Free – all welcome

[Image: Gottfried Lindauer, Hon Hori Kerei Taiaroa, MLC. 1901. Oil on canvas. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Mr H. E. Partridge, 1915]