item details
NameTe Pakanga Series VI
ProductionParatene Matchitt; artist; 1974; Auckland
Classificationdrawings, works on paper
Materialsink
Materials Summaryink on paper
Techniquesdrawing
Dimensions864mm, 694mm
Registration Number2013-0027-2
Credit linePurchased 2013
Overview
These works by Paratene Matchitt were originally commissioned as illustrations for the book Te Ātea (1975), written in Māori by Kāterina Mataira (1932-2011). ‘Te Pakanga’, the series title, translates as battle, strife, or war.
The series depicts the story’s progression from chaos and war to redemption and peace. Matchitt uses a limited palette, a repeated compositional format, and his own interpretations of patterns from kōwhaiwhai (painted rafters) and tukutuku (woven wall panels).
Matchitt and Mataira were contemporaries as artists and art educators. Both were recruited by the Department of Education’s Gordon Tovey to train as primary-school teachers and roving arts and crafts specialists.