Maori Designs In Our Art – Appropriated or Legitimate?
Kia ora friends,
I’ve been asked a culturally sensitive question by a Scandinavian man who at one point spent time living in New Zealand. I’d like to put it to you all because although the issue has been discussed in the public arena before, I’m not quite sure what the answer is or where to find it.
I think Maori designs are only the artist interpretation of what Maori is, I would not call them Maori artists.
A Maori artist is a person with Maori lineage who use designs inspired by their ancestors and draw upon their own mana whenua,(mana from land) mana whakapapa (mana from lineage) mana io atua (mana from supreme god) to create.
There is a clear and significant difference between the tattoo’s of Robbie Williams, Rihanna and Mike Tyson they are interpretations of Maori design and are called Kurituhi which is skin art. Different to Moko which is meant only for those of maori descent tracing ancestral lines and carrying Korero (talk or story)
And note too that the koru designs in the kurituhi don’t join or connect like the moko koru does.