Lynne Harata Te Aika

Re-indigenising the Ōtautahi-Christchurch Landscape in Aotearoa, New Zealand with New Forms of Māori Artworks Retelling the Narratives of the Local Ngāi Tahu People and Providing a Rich Cultural Backdrop for Art Education.

Abstract:

Lynne Harata Te Aika will share her experience and expertise in working for her tribal group Ngāi Tahu and her sub-tribe Ngāi Tūāhuriri in the rebuild and major anchor projects following the Christchurch City earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 which destroyed a number of buildings in her city. This tragedy also brought about an opportunity for her tribal people Ngāi Tahu  to lead and collaborate at a city wide, regional and national level with Ngāi Tahu artists and designers of the anchor projects to rebuild the city, navigating unexpected territories, shifting ground and finding new opportunities for cultural expression in a formerly monocultural city with buildings and architecture based on the dominant  culture of the British colonials with almost no hint of existence of the indigenous Ngāi Tahu Māori people.

This created an opportunity for Ngāi Tahu and other Māori artists to create artworks that educate the wider community through retelling tribal narratives and revitalising traditional art forms and evolving new contemporary works. Schools, teachers, community organisations, the wider public and city visitors are able to learn and hear first-hand Ngāi Tahu narratives through guided walks about pre-European Māori culture and history, early contact encounters and the emergence of contemporary cultural artworks and artforms that are manifested in the anchor projects.

It took a series of seismic events to assist in the re-indigenisation of  Ōtautahi-Christchurch’s city landscape and raise the status of Māori indigenous artforms and centre Māori art education in the city.

Lynne Harata Te Aika

Kia ora my name is Lynne Harata Te Aika. I am Māori from Ōtautahi-Christchurch, Aotearoa – New Zealand.

My background is in Māori language and cultural revitalisation mainly in the school and university sector and also at a tribal and regional level.

I have worked as an education and cultural consultant and have coordinated a number of Māori language and cultural programmes for our tribal people, in the Ngāi Tahu region of the South Island of New Zealand,

I have considerable strategic leadership and governance experience including General Manager, Culture and Identity for Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, 2016–2020; Head of School Aotahi: Māori & Indigenous Studies at the University of Canterbury 2010–2015 and Head of School the College of Education Māori, Social and Cultural Studies 2007–2009.

My relevant governance role for this presentation was for Matapopore Charitable Trust 2014-2024 our tribal trust providing cultural narratives and naming documents for the Anchor Rebuild Projects in Christchurch following the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury Earthquakes and working with artists to retell these narratives in their artforms.  I was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2020  for Contribution to Te Reo Māori and Education.