the woman whose back was a whetstone

the woman whose back was a whetstone

Ka kitea i ngā taonga e toru nei, e kīia ana he hanga akamoni - arā, he rite ki ngā poraka raima i whakamahia ki te wāpu nui o Taranaki - ka tātaia e Ana Iti te whakapapa o te tāreitanga ki a Hinetūāhōanga, te atua wahine nāna te kōwhatu i hō ki tōna tuaiwi.

E ai ki ngā kōrero orokohanga a te Māori, nā Hinetūāhōanga te karakia i tuku ki a Rātā ki te tūā i ngā rākau, ā, nā tōna tuaiwi hoki ngā toki i hō kia pai ai tana tārei i te waka. E ai ki ngā kōrero o Te Wāhipoumanu, ko hōna toenga kōiwi ngā toka rahi kei Te Oha-a-Manu (Ōāmaru). Kua whakamahia e Iti ngā tikanga hō e toru a Hinetūāhōanga; ko te whakamāeneene, ko te poro me te whakakoi.

Ko te whakatinanatanga o Hinetūāhōanga hei kaipupuru i ngā kura o te muru me te waihanga i ngā matū o taiao ki roto i te mahi nei hei whakarite i ngā tūkinotanga o te whakawehe i te tangata whenua i tō rātou ake papa tupu, nā runga i te whai i te pīhau a te Pākehā ki te muru i ngā taonga o Papatūānuku.

—

In these three sculptures based on akmon forms—the concrete blocks used at the breakwaters of port Taranaki—Ana Iti traces the whakapapa of her sculptural practice to Hinetūāhōanga, the atua wāhine or female deity who is described as ‘the woman who stands as a grindstone’ or ‘the woman whose back was a whetstone’.

In Māori creation stories, Hinetūāhōanga provided the karakia to Rātā needed to successfully fell trees and her spine for the sharpening of his toki to enable him to shape waka (canoe). The blocks of Ōamaru stone reference the story from Te Waipounamu (the South Island) of limestone being her remnant bones. Iti has worked on each block with ‘actions’ that can be associated with Hinetūāhōanga; sanding, cutting, and sharpening.

The presence of Hinetūāhōanga as a knowledge-holder for the respectful harvesting and creative transformation of materials from te taiao (the environment) allows the work to allude to frictions in the displacement and alienation of Māori from their land as a result of the colonial pursuit and exploitation of natural resources.

— Text developed for Te Hau Whakatonu: A Series of Never-ending Beginnings (5 August 2023–11 February 2024), curated by Taarati Taiaroa