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Overview
A cyanotype on hiapo (Niuean bark cloth), painted with whenua (earth pigment) from the Mauri Series by artist Cora-Allan Twiss.
Mauri Series
Originally created for her solo exhibition titled Encountering Aotearoa, the Mauri Series includes six cyanotypes painted with whenua on hiapo. These works address historical specimen collecting during Endeavour and subsequent expeditions to Aotearoa. Cora-Allan utilises the cyanotype process, capturing light and form, as a non-exploitative method of 'collecting'. This process indigenises the concept of collecting, transforming it into a method of preserving memory and experience through light and physical contact.
Hiapo, or tapa cloth, forms the base of each cyanotype, replacing conventional paper or fabric. This reflects Cora-Allan's practice as a Niuean hiapo maker. The hiapo was soaked in water from visited locations, embedding the essence of those places within the artworks.
Whenua, or earth pigment, is used in these works. Pigments were gifted or sourced from Cora-Allan’s own lands, adhering to ethical practices. This use of whenua conveys Māori concepts of ownership, historical use, relationship, and stories of the land.
The cyanotypes were created during walks through Ipipiri (Bay of Islands), Aotea (Great Barrier Island), Tewharawhara (Ulva Island), Ahuahu (Mercury Islands), Tōtaranui (Queen Charlotte Sound), and Rakiura (Stewart Island), places associated with Cook’s voyages. This process aimed to interact with these locations without replicating extractive behaviours.
“The cyanotypes were all created during walks through the different spaces that are named in the fonts. So, Te Wharawhara, Ahuahu, and Rakiura especially are places where Cook travelled that I also found an unfamiliarity with. This is why I created the ‘Mauri Series’. The hiapo that I beat was also soaked in the moana of those places. This allowed me to have memories and remember through light, through the ocean and the mauri of the sea water."
Cora-Allan, 2025
Encountering Aotearoa
Cora-Allan's touring solo exhibition Encountering Aotearoa showed 2024 - 2025 at Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, and the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. It explored themes of whenua, place, and practice through a contemporary lens, reflecting on Cora-Allan’s joint Niuean and Māori heritage.
The exhibition is the result of a two-week journey by ship made by the artist, accompanied by her father, mirroring the family experience of Pacific encounter shared by Tupaia and Tiata during Cook's voyages. During this journey the landscapes and coastlines of Aotearoa New Zealand were viewed, researched and painted from the moana, drawing parallels with the experiences of Māori tūpuna and the voyage of Cook and the Endeavour in 1769. The exhibition prominently features hiapo and whenua (earth) pigments, reviving traditional practices and creating a unique palette that reflects the local environment and her relationship with the land, while cyanotypes capture imprints of native flora on hiapo. The exhibition openly and subtly addresses colonial history by drawing parallels between Cora-Allan's voyage and that of Cook's Endeavour, prompting reflection on different ways of encountering Aotearoa.
“The gesture or intention of making the ‘Mauri Series’ was to make sure I didn’t take anything from the space in regards to objects or things, as I didn’t want to recreate that sense of these places that were pillaged. Things were taken, for sampling and various things. I wanted to interact with place in a way that those behaviours didn’t occur.”
Cora-Allan Twiss, 2025