Roimata Taimana Matariki Exhibition | Kūaotunu

Roimata Taimana to exhibit in Kūaotunu over Matariki weekend Local artist Roimata Taimana will be exhibiting in Kūaotunu over the weekend of Matariki. It’s been a while since Roimata has displayed locally and it will be a welcome homecoming. His most recent shows have been in Queenstown and Kapanga/Coromandel Town, and while Roimata has loved traveling to showcase his art, there’s no place like home and he is excited to show what he has been working on. Matariki and the Māori New Year for Roimata bring with it a sense of unity and a chance to celebrate te o Māori. “My parents came from the generation that was caned if they spoke Māori at school and so they were separated from much of their tikanga, so we didn’t celebrate Matariki when I was growing up. I have been on a real hikoi over the last five or six years to reconnect with te o Māori, and having the whole country celebrate Matariki makes it feel like everyone is with me on this journey. I have always been fascinated by the night sky and stars and other celestial bodies and often feature them in my art. Matariki is a celebration of Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and so it is a celebration of seeing the stars and reading them as my tupuna (ancestors) did hundreds of years ago. Using the same names for the whetū (stars) makes me feel connected to my tupuna in a very unique way.” The sales of Roimata’s art are going to a very special cause. Roimata’s whanau are in the very early stages of building papakāinga on their ancestral land. For years, Roimata has been painting and drawing images of what the pā sites around Kūaotunu would have looked like hundreds of years ago. His pictures show palisades, pou, whare and sometimes glowing campfires. With the proposed papakāinga, Roimata is a step closer to living inside one of his beautiful images. Where: The Richardson’s showroom on Irishtown Rd, Kūaotunu (behind the shop and opposite the kindy When: 10am–4pm, Friday 28 June to Sunday 30 June What: Ink on paper and digital art