Toi Te Mana

A landmark account in words and pictures of Māori art, by Māori art historians – from Polynesian voyaging waka to contemporary Māori artists.

He toi whakairo, he mana tangata.
Through artistic excellence, there is human dignity.

Toi Te Mana is a landmark account of Māori art from the time of the tūpuna (ancestors) to the present day.

In 600 pages and over 500 extraordinary images, this volume invites readers to climb on to the waka for a remarkable voyage – from ancestral weavers to contemporary artists at the Venice Biennale, from whare whakairo to film, and from Te Puea Hērangi to Michael Parekōwhai.

The authors explore a wide field of art practice: raranga (plaiting), whatu (weaving), moko (tattoo), whakairo (carving), rākai (jewellery), kākahu (textiles), whare (architecture), toi whenua (rock art), painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, installation art, digital media and film. And they do so over a long time period – from the arrival of Pacific voyagers 800 years ago to contemporary artists in Aotearoa and around the world today. Through wide-ranging chapters alongside focused breakout boxes on individual artists, movements and events, Toi Te Mana is a waka eke noa – an essential book for anyone interested in te ao Māori.

Toi Te Mana is a Māori art history, written by Māori, given to the world.

Toitū te whenua, toitū te tikanga, ka ora ngā toi.
When we hold fast to our land and values, our art flourishes.

Author Biography

Ngarino
Ellis
(Ngapuhi, Ngati Porou) is an associate professor in art history at Waipapa
Taumata Rau University of Auckland. Her monograph A Whakapapa of Tradition: 100
Years of Ngati Porou Carving, 1830-1930 (Auckland University Press, 2016) won several awards
including the Judith Binney Best First Book at the Ockham New Zealand Book
Awards and Best Maori Art Book at the Nga Kupu Ora Awards: Celebrating Maori
Books and Journalism, 2017. She co-edited Te Puna: Maori Art from Te Tai
Tokerau / Northland (Reed, 2007) with Deidre Brown, and Te Ata: Maori
Art from the East Coast, New Zealand (Reed, 2002) with Witi Ihimaera.
Ngarino has also collaborated as a curator, including Whakawhanaungatanga:
Connecting People and Taonga (Linden Museum, Stuttgart, 2022-24) with
Dougal Austin, Awhina Tamarapa and Justine Treadwell, and Purangiaho: Seeing
Clearly (Auckland Art Gallery, 2001) with Ngahiraka Mason and Kahutoi Te
Kanawa. She has published on many aspects of Maori art history including moko,
adornment, art crime and gender.

Deidre Brown (Ngapuhi, Ngati Kahu) is a Maori art and
architectural historian and professor of architecture at Waipapa Taumata Rau
University of Auckland. Her books include Maori Architecture: From Fale to Wharenui
and Beyond (Raupo, 2009; Nga Kupu Ora award winner and New Zealand Post
Book Awards finalist), Introducing Maori Art (Reed, 2005), Tai
Tokerau Whakairo Rakau: Northland Maori Wood Carving (Reed, 2003; NZSA Best
First Book at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards), Te Puna: Maori Art from Te
Tai Tokerau / Northland (Reed, 2007) with Ngarino Ellis, the multi-authored
Art in Oceania: A New History (Thames & Hudson, 2012; Art Book Prize
for best English language art book) and A New Zealand Book of Beasts:
Animals in Our Culture, History and
Everyday Life (Auckland
University Press, 2013). She has curated several exhibitions and is a former
Governor of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand. Deidre is a Fellow of the Royal
Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi and a 2023 Te Kahui Whaihanga New Zealand
Institute of Architects Gold Medallist – the Institute’s highest award.

Jonathan
Mane-Wheoki CNZM (1943-2014;
Ngapuhi, Te Aupouri, Ngati Kuri) was an art historian specialising in Maori,
New Zealand and European art. His academic career began at the University of
Canterbury and included serving as Dean of Music and Fine Arts. In 2004, he
became the Director of Art and Collection Services at Te Papa Tongarewa Museum
of New Zealand. Five years later, he was appointed Professor and Head of the
Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland. Notable service roles
included being a Governor of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand and member of
Te Waka Toi, the Arts Council of Creative New Zealand, International Council of
the Centre Culturel Jean-Marie Tjibaou and the Marsden Fund Council. Jonathan
received an honorary LittD from the University of Canterbury in 2008 and the
Royal Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi’s Pou Aronui Award in 2012 and was
made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2014 for services to the
arts.