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Overview
This essay originally appeared in New Zealand Art at Te Papa (Te Papa Press, 2018).
Emily Karaka’s painting Rangitoto eruption refers to two events. First is the cataclysmic birth of Rangitoto, the landmark volcanic motu, or island, in Auckland’s Waitematā Harbour. Karaka uses this event, witnessed by ancestors around ad 1400, as a historical and metaphorical lens with which to consider a second event: the explosive collision of Māori and the Crown over Takaparawhā, or Bastion Point, on the Auckland waterfront in the late 1970s, as each side claimed ownership. Tension between the two parties had been building since the 1840s when Ngāti Whātua rangatira (chief) Āpihai Te Kawau had, along with other leaders, allowed Pākehā to purchase land in central Auckland but tried to set aside two hundred and eighty acres at Takaparawhā as an inalienable gift to his Ngāti Whātua hapū and their descendants.
The progressive alienation of this estate and demand for recognition of its ownership is symbolised figuratively in the painting. A crucified body thrusts volcanically against a scoria- or blood-coloured background, rising centrally, and two taniwha canoe-prow type forms (upper left/lower right) pop up on either side. These emergent forms make reference to the huge pan-Māori protest that erupted in 1976 when the Crown announced its intention to create high-cost housing and parks at Ōrākei. In response, the now-landless Uri-o-Hau hapū (community) of Ngāti Whātua and its Māori and Pākehā supporters occupied the contested land for five hundred and seven days until 25 May 1978. After being served with a trespass notice and encircled by six hundred police officers with army back-up, the hapū was evicted from their makeshift village and their meeting house was bulldozed.
Karaka suggests the motu Rangitoto — appearing on the painting’s upper edge in a carved representation by her then partner Norman Te Whata — is not simply a witness to, but also a participant in, these struggles. Arms outstretched, fish forming its ringaringa (fingers) Rangitoto is claiming back Takaparawhā (its name inscribed three times on the painting), and Ngāti Whātua, to itself. In 1988, the year of the painting, the Crown was forced to relinquish claims over the remaining Āpihai Te Kawau estate. Karaka’s work remembers Ngāti Whātua’s titanic confrontation with the Crown and celebrates the victorious return of Takaparawhā to ngā tangata whenua on Ōrākei peninsula.
Rangihīroa Panoho
Rangitoto eruption highlights the ongoing struggle of the Ngāti Whatua iwi (tribe) for land rights at Bastion Point, Auckland.
Rangitoto is the maunga tapu, or sacred mountain, of Ngāti Whatua. Emily Karaka depicts this female ancestor in a defiant haka (war dance) stance. Rising from the ground are other female kaitiaki, described by Karaka as guardians of the land.
The word ‘Orakei’ refers to the suburb where Bastion Point is located. It faces Rangitoto – ‘the blood-red sky’.