Mihaia te Tuatahi

I was told if I wanted to do Māori art, I should go back home and wear a grass skirt. It wasn’t until after Elam that I began to relook at Māori art.

Arnold Manaaki Wilson said this of his time at Auckland’s Elam School of Arts (1947-53). He was the second Maori artist to graduate from the school after Selwyn Wilson, who did so in 1951.

Mihaia te tuatahi (The first Messiah), created 12 years later, represents the Ngāi Tūhoe prophet Rua Kenana. The sculpture’s clean form and smooth, undecorated surfaces recall the work of European artist Constantin Brâncusi. It can perhaps be seen as a modern depiction of a revered tupuna (ancestor).