Ake - Portrait Tipuna Entry

5m 23s

I have chosen Hotuwaipara as my tīpuna wahine to connect to through my artwork. She is the first wife of Whātonga, and mother of Taraika.

Tangata Whenua - Pao AKE - Korowai Ka heke ki ahau (Ake) - Pātere

She was graceful, beautiful, knowledgable and was a woman of high rank. Connecting my artwork to her through performance I have used my knowledge with Tahitian dancing and have incorporated that into my performance to represent her grace and knowledge with poi roa. I utilised my poutama to represent her Mana as a high ranked wahine.

I show my connection by whakapapa and pepeha to Hotuwaipara through my Korowai that I have woven out of all natural materials.

My 2 compositions connects to Hotuwaipara by the stories I sing within the performance and the korowai as well as composition in general for she was the composer of "He Tangi mō Wakanui", which is a waiata tangi she composed for her mokopuna Wakanui who sadly passed away by drowning in Te Moana o Raukawa (Cooks Straight).

The reason why I believe I should win is because I'm not winning for just myself. I am winning for my rohe, my iwi, my whānau and my tīpuna. All the hard work that I have put into this entry is due to the aroha, the tautoko and leadership from them. I want to win to give back, I want to win to invest on what I started on so that I can give back, so that I can teach, so that I can create. I believe I deserve this award because I've never seen another 21 year old who has done so much in little time for their people, because it was never about themselves it was always about the people which is a whakaaro that I know was passed down from Hotuwaipara.

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