Kāwana brooch

Kāwana brooch.

This brooch titled Kāwana was crafted by Matthew McIntyre Wilson (Ngā Mahangā, Taranaki) from New Zealand, Cook Island, and British coins using jewellery making techniques. This brooch is a more complex example of Matthew’s more widely known brooches fashioned out of New Zealand coins, particularly the taniwha head from the New Zealand ten cent piece.

The use of currency, which is representative of an extension of the authority of the crown, is deliberatly utilised in Matthew's work. Kawana contains intricate details and differences that are explicitly used to portray an opposing position to this authority and its associated narratives. In addition to this, the text, "piko mai e kawana ko ahau to ariki" comes directly from the lyrics of the Parihaka waiata "Te Piukara". This waiata was composed in the 1880s to commemorate the acts of the people of Parihaka, specifically the fencing protests, the subsequent arrests, and the exile of the prisoners to South Island jails by steamship. This waiata is included in the Taranaki Iwi Deed of Settlement 2017 on page 36.