Tukutuku : He whai toi, he toi tupu = In pursuit of an understanding of Māori art practices

Abstract

This thesis investigates tukutuku (ornamental lattice-work in the walls of a native house) within Te Ao Maori, the Maori world, using an array of sources, but drawing upon Maori ontological assumptions and concepts. It explores tukutuku in the wider context of Maori art practices, proposing that these are underpinned by the principle of whakapapa, which in turn is based on a specific body of matapono (principles). The manner in which these matapono whakapapa (whakapapa principles) both fashion and are fashioned by Maori art practices (and tukutuku in particular) is articulated through a series of case studies of ancestral and contemporary tukutuku assemblages, using a framework of Maori art practice aria (concepts) developed to investigate this linkage. These case studies illuminate the dialectical nature of the relationship between tukutuku and whakapapa, and by implication, other Maori art practices.