Hikoi’s unity on show
Attending the historic hikoi in Wellington last year made a huge expression on Motueka’s Donna McLeod.
The co-curator of an exhibition examining the region’s response to the march, and to Toitū te Tiriti, said the hikoi was “beautiful”and “incredibly emotional”.
“I was moved to tears many times,” McLeod said, describing the multi-generational, multicultural multitude which turned out in their thousands, including Asians for the Treaty, Sikhs handing out food, and volunteer Pākehā organisations dishing out water and apples and sunscreens.
Shopkeepers waved, chairs were put in the street for those in need of respite, and the spirit was “so gentle, and so loving”.
“Everywhere you looked, there was somebody who had your back, who was proud to be Māori, was proud to be a New Zealander, was proud to embrace the Treaty,” she said.
“I’m not saying I’m a religious person, but it was like, in my brain, I was just praying and just so thankful and celebrating all of the beauty that surrounded me, all of the intent.”
Now, members of the public are being asked to share their own experiences: whether that be via Facebook photos, poems, signs or submissions to the Treaty Principles Bill, in a new exhibition at the Refinery ArtSpace.
There were protests in every rohe, in Nelson, Motueka, Tākaka and Blenheim, McLeod said.
“It’s not an argument or a debate of the bill. It’s actually for those who went on the hikoi, and those who supported the hikoi, which includes local events.”
The exhibition is the first by Māori arts collective Āwhio, who have transformed the space into a blank canvas of butcher’s paper with a mix of artwork, weaving, and reflections from the local community.
McLeod said there was a strong Māori kaupapa underpinning the exhibition: kotahitanga, the unity of all people.
And it is to lead on to other things.
McLeod, together with the Āwhio collective, plans to write and direct a “anthology” of a theatre piece later in the year, drawing on the reflections and connections gathered in the exhibition.
“It’s about being able to tell those stories,” McLeod said.
“As artists we have a responsibility to create what’s in our heads, and in our hearts more so I think.”
Āwhiowhio Hikoi will run at the Refinery ArtSpace from March 10 to April 5. The exhibition is supported by Tuku Festival ‘25 and Arts Council Nelson.
By Warren Gamble, Nelson Mail
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