Exhibitions
Events
On display
Being in Relationship - Te Tiriti in 2025
Areta Wilkinson Akaroa Purchase 1856 2014. Stirling silver, 18 carat gold, audio; duration 31 min, 37 sec. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, gift of the Friends of Christchurch Art Gallery, 2024; the artist acknowledges George Waitai Tikao (Kāi Tahu, 1922–2019)
Talk
Past event
Philip Carter Family Auditorium
Free
This event offers an opportunity to clarify and consider Te Tiriti values and relationships in 2025 and is presented in collaboration with Network Waitangi Ōtautahi (NWŌ).
Katherine Peet (NWŌ) and Kirsty Glengarry (Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū) will lead this discussion which explores the NWŌ educational framework with links to artwork on display in He Kapuka OneOne.
NWŌ supports the development of a Treaty-based, multicultural and strongly sustainable future. Their primary aim is to promote, encourage and provide educational opportunities to work towards a society based on Te Tiriti o Waitangi. They do this alongside a wider network of groups and individuals, united by our particular focus on the responsibility for building an honourable Kāwanatanga.
NWŌ focuses on education, recognising that the intent and actual content of Te Tiriti o Waitangi are not well known or well understood.
No bookings required, you may like to take the opportunity to eat before 6pm or after 8pm at The Thirsty Peacock.
Related reading: Free
Exhibition
He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil
From 24 August 2024
Exploring the relationship between tākata and whenua – people and land – through Aotearoa New Zealand’s art history.
Collection
Areta Wilkinson Akaroa Purchase 1856
The delicate beauty of these works by Kāi Tahu artist Areta Wilkinson reveals a complex and difficult history of deceit and loss. This pendant is a map of part of Horomaka Banks Peninsula. Between 1844 and 1864, the government bought 34.5 million acres of land in Te Waipounamu South Island in ten separate purchases, three of which were from Horomaka: Whakaraupō Port Cooper (1849), Koukourarata Port Levy (1849) and Akaroa (1856). In order to convince Kāi Tahu to part with their land, the government’s representatives made threats and bribes promising infrastructure. They also agreed to set aside ten percent of all the land purchased for Kāi Tahu to use and live on. None of these promises were upheld, in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The small reserves of land that were put aside are marked by Wilkinson in gold. One of these, Ōpukutahi (Native Māori Reserve 885), is described in the accompanying audio recording of Kāi Tahu kaumātua George Waitai Tikao (1922–2019).
Kāi Tahu ~ tribal group of much of Te Waipounamu South Island
Te Tiriti o Waitangi ~ the Treaty of Waitangi
kaumātua ~ elder, person of status
He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil (from August 2024)
