72 MUSEUM NEWS LEFT: Pendant, kaka poria. Maori, New Zealand. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, inv. ME001622. © Kura Pounamu marketing images Te Papa. LEFT: Hook-shaped pendant, hei matau. Maori, New Zealand. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, inv. ME005041. © Kura Pounamu marketing images Te Papa. BELOW: Pendant, pekapeka. Maori, New Zealand. Donated by Robert Coddington, 2007. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, inv. ME023849. © Kura Pounamu marketing images Te Papa. BELOW: Pendant, hei tiki. Maori, New Zealand. Donated by Leo Buller, 1911. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, inv. ME002100. © Kura Pounamu marketing images Te Papa. BELOW: Pendant, hei tiki. Carved by Lewis Tamihana Gardiner from the Ngãi tahu, Te Arawa, Ngãti Awa, and Te Whã- nau-a-Apanui iwis. New Zealand. 2008. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, inv. ME024001. © Kura Pounamu marketing images Te Papa. The Sacred Stone of the Maori PARIS—New Zealand’s Te Papa Tongarewa Museum and the Ngi Tahu iwi (family clan) will be represented at the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac until October 1, 2017. The subject is pounamu, the Maori term for the sacred green stone that is characteristic of their art. Innocuous looking in its native state, this stone is found in the riverbeds of Te Waipounamu, or the South Island. This fi ve-part exhibition presents the rich and varied culture of New Zealand’s fi rst inhabitants. The fi rst navigators arrived there some 800 years ago, guided by the stars from other parts of Polynesia, and named their new land Aotearoa, or “long white cloud,” based on their fi rst sighting of it. The exhibition explores the origins, composition, and different varieties of pounamu, as well as the myths and stories that are associated with it. One legend says that pounamu holds within it the infi nite beauty of Waitaki, a young woman transformed into stone by her lover in order to escape the wrath of her husband. Beautiful, hard, prestigious, and pleasant to the touch, this precious green stone has commercial value as well. To this day, it is considered a treasure and a carrier of mana (prestige). Whomsoever is adorned with pounamu ornaments is the subject of admiration. The ancestors of today’s Maori used the stone to make tools that enabled their wood sculpture to fl ourish. The fi nest pieces of it were used to make weapons, which were symbols of power or prestige, some of which were used to conclude peace agreements. The proverb Ko au te pounamu ko te pounamu ko au (I am the pounamu, and the pounamu is in me) expresses the immutable connection between the green stone and Maori identity. For this autochthonous people, pounamu continues to be a treasure that is transmitted from generation to generation and a precious source of inspiration. In addition to Picasso Primitif, which is the subject of a dedicated article in this issue, the Aztec Hotel project will also be on view at the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac from June 20–October 8, 2017. After the success of Tiki Pop in 2014, the museum is once again collaborating with author and pop culture specialist Sven Kirsten. This exhibition revisits Maya culture and iconography through the work of archaeologists, explorers, and architects of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and through creations produced by popular American culture. BELOW: Detail of an adze, toki poutangata. Maori, New Zealand. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, inv. Ol000491. © Kura Pounamu marketing images Te Papa.
T84 EN Online
To see the actual publication please follow the link above