June Northcroft Grant

Whaea Kaiwhetu -Keeper of the Stars - Matariki, 2009
acrylic on canvas
760 x 1010mm
NZD $3,750.00

Last year I spent three months painting on the North West Coast of the United States in Olympia Washington.  I had read about the ‘Clan Mothers’ - women Tribal leaders who hold sacred knowledge and impart teachings  a bit like the Maori equivalent of Tohungatanga except in a feminine sense.  There are 13 original Clan Mothers (Whaea) based on the moon cycles in a year, and each Whaea has special gifts and abilities to do with the month and the time of year, a special colour for each month and so on.  To me it seemed that the similarities between our cultures were too obvious to ignore and I was swept up in interpreting these inspiring stories in a series of images depicting the Whaea in a moon format, or shield or whatever the circle means to the viewer.  I have painted a few different Matariki images for different exhibitions, all based around the moon Mother.  This one is Matariki surrounded by her six sisters, depicted as manaia with the golden eyes (twinkling stars). The owl is a Kaitiaki symbolising wisdom and the poutama pattern on the wings talks about carrying esoteric knowledge to the heavens and back. The three directional patterns in gold (birth, life, afterlife) symbolise Nga Hau e Wha relating to all tribes of the world ( the native Americans use these directional symbols in their art also) and the words are the names of each of the stars.

This painting forms part of the exhibition: Matariki - The Navigator
Kura Gallery Wellington 29 May to 21 June 2009
http://www.kuragallery.co.nz/current-exhibition-matariki-the-navigator-wellington

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