A Maori Dragon Story

A Maori Dragon Story

Ko ngā kiriata, ngā whakaahua, ngā tāreitanga, me ngā kākahu katoa e noho tahi ana, e kāpuia ana, e pāorooro hoki ana i ngā tikanga a Lisa Reihana. Ko ngā mahi a Reihana, he rangahau i te kounga o te kiripuaki me te tuku pakimaero, arā, he whakawhānui i ngā tikanga tuku iho o ngā whare kiriata me te kapo whakaahua. He raweke i ngā hangarau tuku paki me te kite hoki he aha te hua ka puta peange i te whakapuaki i ngā kōkē kōrero a te Māori me hōna āwangawanga ki te minenga o tēnei ao hōu.

Kua waihangatia tētehi pūrākau nō Waitahā, i whakahoungia e Teone Taare Tīkao o Kāi Tahu, ki tēnei whakaaturanga e kīia nei ko A Māori Dragon Story. Ko tā te pakimaero nei he whai i a Hine Ao me tōna matua, a Te Ake, i tā rāua haerenga i Akaroa. Ka tūtaki atu te tokorua rā ki a Turakipo, te rangatira o Ōpāwaho. Ka tere tonu te kōingo atu o Turakipo ki a Hine Ao. Ka patua a Turakipo e te whakamā, ina rā kīhei a Hine Ao i hiahia ki a ia. Ka mākutuhia te wahine, ka panaia kia mate ki te moana. Ka tahuna tōna tinana e Te Ake i te aneatanga.

Ka whai utu, ā, ka ako a Te Ake ki te mahi mākutu. Ka whakataniwhatia ngā pungarehu o tāna tamāhine. He tuna te āhua o te taniwha, ka tere atu ki te moana, ā, ka hoki ki Ōpāwaho, ki te wāhi i whakamatea ia e te iwi o taua takiwā. Ka tere oma atu a Turakipo ki te tangi auē, ā, ka kitea tōna iwi, kua mate katoa i te tāoke. He tuaiwi nō te tuna e takoto ana i te taha o ngā tūpāpaku. Kua ea i konei te utu.
He korakora kānapanapa, he ngaru takai kōataata, he karetau mau moko, arā, he whakaaturanga a A Māori Dragon Story i āta whakautiuti te waihanga. I kapohia ki te rīpene 16mm me te 8mm te kōrero whakaari matekanehe, whakaari rirohanga me te whai utu kia hua mai ko tētehi kiriata whakarangatira i hōna ake kōrero Māori, me te akiaki i ngā kaimātakitaki ki te whai tonu.


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Video, photography, sculpture, and costume sit together, unified and humming within the practice of Lisa Reihana. Expanding upon theatre and portraiture traditions, Reihana’s works are rich studies in character and storytelling. Equally, they examine new narrative technologies and their potential for representing Māori stories and concerns to contemporary audiences.

A Māori Dragon Story animates an ancient Waitaha pūrākau recounted by Kāi Tahu scholar Teone Taare Tīkao. The southern tale follows Hine Ao and her father Te Ake, journeying from Akaroa. The pair encounter rakatira Turakipo of Ōpāwaho, who immediately harbours desire for Hine Ao. Turakipo is scorned by Hine Ao’s rejection and curses the wahine to perish at sea. A devastated Te Ake cremates her body.

Seeking revenge, Te Ake learns the craft of mākutu, transforming his daughter’s ashes into a taniwha. The eel-like taniwha takes to the ocean, returning to Ōpāwaho where she is killed and eaten by the local iwi. In a dramatic finale, Turakipo rushes to the sound of wailing and finds his people dead—poisoned. Next to the bodies lies an eel skeleton. Utu, revenge, has finally been enacted.

Glimmering sequins, cellophane waves, puppets penned with metallic moko, A Māori Dragon Story is a meticulously crafted and charged production. Filmed on 16mm and 8mm, the story’s complexities of lust, loss, and revenge push its familiar materials into a classical drama that reveres its own explicitly Māori kōrero, and entrusts viewers to follow in suit.

— Madison Kelly (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Pākehā), 2024