The ongoing impacts of colonisation for Māori, particularly the loss of their land, has for many years driven Emily Karaka’s life and work. These three works are part of a larger series about the history of land confiscations and Te Tiriti o Waitangi settlement processes in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. The titles each refer to one of fourteen ancestral mauka that were returned by the Crown to the thirteen iwi and hapū of Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau as part of the Collective Redress Act 2014. Karaka herself was at the forefront of the negotiations with the Crown on behalf of one of her iwi, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki. Activism is embedded in Karaka’s paintbrush and in her whakapapa: her great-grandfather was Mita Karaka, a member of the delegation led by the Māori king Te Rata Mahuta Pootatau Te Wherowhero that travelled to England in 1914 to present the British Crown with a petition calling for the return of confiscated Māori lands.

He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil (from August 2024)