Te Ika a Maui

Rangona ai ngā kōrero mō Māui huri noa i te Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa. I roto i tētahi kei te hī ake a Māui i Te-Ika-a-Māui mā te kauwae a tōna kuia a Muriranga-whenua. I roto i tēnei toi a Fred Graham, kei te tū hāngai ki runga ake i te waha tuwhera o te ika, e whakatare ana ki tāna mahi; koia tētahi o āna mahi tino rongonui.

Mai i ngā tau 1960, mahia ai e Graham ngā pūrākau mō Aotearoa. I roto i *Te Ika a Maui*, 1970, he toi i peitahia ai i a ia e mahi ana hei kaiako i te Kāreti o Papakura, kitea ai ngā āhuatanga hou, he mea ōkawa, heoi anō ko te ao Māori te horopaki matua. Puta mai ai te kōrero, ngā hanga, te wairua o tēnei toi i taua māramatanga.

Stories of Māui are referenced across Te Moana nui-a-Kiwa (the Pacific). In one, Māui fishes up the Te-Ika-a-Māui (North Island) using a jawbone given to him by his kuia (grandmother), Muriranga-whenua. In this work by Fred Graham depicting one of the hero’s best-known acts, Māui stands astride the fish’s gaping mouth, intent on his catch.

From the late 1960s, Graham made works about pūrākau (stories) of Aotearoa New Zealand. In Te *Ika a Maui*, 1970, painted while he was a teacher at Papakura High School, modernist formal elements are identifiable. However, te ao Māori (the Māori worldview) is the primary context. Narrative, forms and the wairua (spirit) of the work itself draw from this understanding.

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