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Overview
Included in The Spinoff's 20 best books of non-fiction, 2016.
Enter and explore the powerful, ancestral world of the whare whakairo, or Māori meeting house, with this engaging illustrated guide.
Richly illustrated with more than 100 historical and contemporary photographs and original watercolour illustrations, The Māori Meeting House celebrates every aspect of these magnificent taonga (treasures) – their history and art forms, symbolism and cultural significance.
In a clear, informative and personal narrative, Damian Skinner brings together existing scholarship on whare whakairo and his own reflections as a Pākehā art historian and curator, with reference to meeting houses from all over Aotearoa New Zealand and the world. The voices of carvers, artists, architects, writers, experts and iwi are woven into the text, to give every reader new ways of seeing these taonga – whether it is your first view or your hundredth.
Equal parts history, personal essay and illustrated guidebook, The Māori Meeting House is an important contribution to contemporary discussions about Māori art and art history.