Hine-nui-te-po speaks to me about birth, life and death, about love between man and women, mother and child.

She personifies the role of Mana Wahine (power of women) as receiver and giver of life.

Herstory is multi layered and intersects whenua (land) and tupuna (ancestors).

It shows how the Whangaroa landscape is marked by cosmological and geographical events.

How iconic landmarks are named for her, as being in, on and of the land.

A version of the ancestral creation story (pu rakau) describes the birth of Whangaroa as a violent volcanic eruption occurring 60,000 years ago.

This event accredited to Hine-nui-te-po in labour, her body undergoing tremendous transformation as the whenua is terra formed.

In the painting below, the entrance known as the Whangaroa heads is depicted.

The landmark on the left is Te Pokopoko O Hine-nui-te-po (cervix of Hine-nui-te-po) and the landmark on the right is Te Urenui O Maui (big penis of Maui).

Here they are depicted embedded in the whenua as spiritual guardians.

The imagery this pu rakau inspires is a source of creative content for countless painting compositions. 

Nga Kaitiaki o Whangaroa

Acrylic on loose canvas, 2017

Waka Tupapaku (bone chests)

Toi iho (art of our ancestors) are much more then inanimate objects and are living in every sense of the word.

They contain the mauri (spiritual life force) of the creator and the receiver’s ihi (power) grows as the taonga is passed down through the generations.

These waka tupapaku are the remnants of a unique Whangaroa carving style and are used in paintings as visual symbols of cultural restoration.

Found standing upright in a tomo (burial cave) situated near the entrance to Whangaroa Harbour.

This waka tupapaku was sold to the Auckland War memorial museum by Mr E Spencer in 1913.

Records describe the waka tupapaku as a skull box, made to contain the head of a chief. Its height is 70 cm.

The figure depicted is Hine-nui-te-po, with raised legs and exposed genitals lined with obsidian teeth. A dense black volcanic silica rock that can be found along the river banks of the Waiare and the shores of Whangaroa. A direct reference to Hine.

Sold to the Auckland War Memorial Museum by William Saies in 1914, during an exploration of Ohopekako (St Peters), Whangaroa.

Museum records note that the waka tupapaku contained the bones of a small child.

It is unknown how old the carving is, however it is made of Totara and stands 63 cm tall, interior length 24 cm, and interior width 13 cm.

The lid and head of this waka tupapaku are missing, with signs it has been subjected to burning. Found on a rock platform protruding from a crevice on the slope of Taratara.

Reference: Deirdre Brown – Tai Tokerau Whakairo Rakau, Northland Maori Wood Carving

These Waka tupapaku inform and empower my cultural identity by connecting me to the stories (pu rakau) of my ancestral past.

They fill me with a sense of ihi (power), wehi (fear) and wana (awe) that triggers a powerful emotional response and ignites my creative spirit.

This collection of painting are expressions of reverence that these toi iho invoke within me.

The divine womb

Here she is portrayed as a fierce and powerful force of nature reflecting the positive and negative elements of her character.

Acrylic on loose canvas, 2018

Ashamed to learn that Tane her father was also the father of her children, she fled to Rarohenga (the under-world) of which he quickly followed.

But he was stopped from entering by Hine herself, in her new role as goddess of the underworld.

“Go back to the world of light, Tāne, and raise our children. Let me remain here to gather them in.”

So Tāne came back to the upper world, while Hine stayed below.

Quest for immortality

Acrylic on loose canvas, 2018

Māui represented here in lizard form, climbed up the thighs of Hine-nui-te-po while she slept.

The piwaiwaka (fantail) asked, ‘what are you doing’ and Māui told him, ‘I want to return to the womb’ where he was sure he could receive immortality.

The piwaiwaka warned Māui about violating the lores of nature, but Māui continued on his journey.

The Piwaiwaka laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation, woke the sleeping Hine-nui-te-po who demanded to know what Māui was doing.

He told her he wanted to be like the Moon. She agreed to grant Māui his wish, crushing him with the obsidian teeth in her vagina.

As requested, Māui reappears like the moon in the blood-tides of woman, appearing monthly signalling continuity and the immortality of the people down through the generations.

References : Leonie Hayden – Decolonise your body! The fascinating history of maori and their periods

He whare tangata o Whangaroa

Acrylic on loose canvas, 2018

Depicted as the patient and loving mother, her womb full with descendants.

The signs and symbols represented here, the waxing moon, the planet Venus all reference feminine cyclic energy.

The floating kowhai flower signals the mullet are running, and the Kauwau (Black Shag) a metaphor symbolising the world above and the world below.

Hine-nui-te-po is captured in veil, representing both physical and spiritual dimensions. 

Transition, transformation and transcendence

Herstory encourages me to explore through my painting practice, the duality of human nature for deeper understanding of my own.

Herstory provides insight into the transitional, transformative and transcendant stages of human experience, shown in the name changes that mark major events in her life.

Hine-ahu-one (the first women) created from the fertile red clay found on the pubic area of his mother – Papatuanuku.

Tane moulded her form and breathed life into her by performing the hongi and the expression ‘tihei mauri ora’ originated.

Then as Hine-ti-tama (wife and mother) and finally, Hine-nui-te-po (the lady of the night).   

Accepting that Tane had betrayed her, she transits powerful emotions of shame, deep sorrow and rage. It is her maternal love that transforms these dark emotions, transcending them as the devoted mother Hine-nui-te-po, who waits patiently at Rarohenga – the underworld that she has lovingly prepared for her uri (descendants).

Then theres the story of Maui. She transits this great offence by transforming it through compassion and empathy – granting him immortality as requested, through his transcendent death.

‘I do not cause death, and did not ordain it. Human death was ordained when human life was ordained. I am a practicality, merely an instrument in the sequence of life’.

Wahine Toa: Women of mythology – Patricia Grace

Hine-nui-te-po allows me to experience feminine energy, both light (pure) and dark (evil) as a unified whole, no longer separated as good or bad. She shows me that the dark is not evil, but primal and allows for the process of self reflection to occur.

That my journeys into the darkness are where things take birth. In the darkness of the earths womb is where life germinates, where life begins to form.

In her dark feminine embrace, dualities of the spiritual and physical dimensions, heaven and earth, good and evil, light and dark – are one.

Hine-nui-te-po is sacred and has no opposite.

‘Did you know the old time Maori didn’t believe in heaven or hell? You worked out your utu for all you had done in your life, here. Now is your heaven and now is your hell’.

Women far walking: Witi Ihimaera

All woman have goddess given strenghts to learn about and accept gratefully. She also has goddess given weaknesses she must recognise and transit in order to transform and transcend.  

Hine-nui-te-po is the re-assertion of who I am and yet to become.

I feel closest to her when out venturing on Whangaroa harbour.

She is etched in the rock formations that loom above me and reflected in the tide that laps at my boat beneath me.

I want to know her in all her duality, complexity and simplicity, her savagery and her calm.

One night fishing

Simplistic dualities used to influence my painting practice are reflected in black & white or negative & positive space.

In the creative process of the painting shown here the interplay of light and dark, hot and cold, black and red merge as a fluid, unified whole.

In this transformative space, with paint and brush, herstory reveals to me that there are no opposites and a non dual experience emerges.

Whangaroa rising

In order to create, we must also destroy; this is the domain of mana wahine, witnessed every month in the blood tides of women.

The womb, as it is life giving is also life destroying.

The ultimate gift herstory provides me is gained from the realisation that everything is interconnected and that the forces of duality are complimentary.

This informs my imagination providing an abundant source of creative content for visual inspiration and cultural empowerment that moves me to new heights of artistry.

I call this transcendant space the ‘flow state’.

Here I am functioning as a cohesive, intergrated whole. Spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally unified.

Neither above or below, black or white, man or women, good or evil, past or present, living or dead.

A state transcendant of duality.

In this revered realm of Hine-nui-te-po, I am free to create at will the imagery you see before you.

Before I can start a fire, I need a spark. And once lit, ready to be consumed in the flames I created – with the absolute faith, that from destruction comes creation.

Conclusion

I am because she was, she is because I am

The significance of Hinenuitepo to my visual art practice and personal development lies in her ability to guide my spiritual nature to a central place within.

Pu rakau provide a language, symbology and metaphorical meaning relevant to the past and present.

They contain messages passed down through generations of life experience to guide, console and uplift the people for whom they were created for.

Herstory deals with the transformation of consciousness, through emotional turmoil, trails, tests and illuminating revelations.

Through spiritual adventure herstory guides me.