Ngaromoana Raureti
Ngaromoana works from her kitchen table - her artistic world is interwoven with her immediate environment and is tangibly represented by the blues of the oceans and gifts of shells...
Iwi: Rongomai Wahine of Ngati Kahungunu
At Opoutama, Mahia Peninsula, Ngaromoana works from her kitchen table overlooking the marae and village. Her world is interwoven with her immediate enviroment and is tangibly represented by the blues of the oceans and nature's gift of shells. The use of plaster and shells stems from the craftwork practised by Maori women for the Women's League displays of the 1950's.
Ngaromoana's constructions are based on tribal histories and the first of these works here are what she names her tiwai, abbreviated from tiwaiwaka - the fantail. In the stories of the demi-god Maui, tiwai was the harbinger of news and Ngaromoana describes tiwaiwaka as "...the news gatherer and the debating journalist". She also visualises tiwai as a playful creature - dashing and dancing. Tiwai, who alerted Hinenuitepo to Maui's invasion of her womb, is "...loyal to the great goddess and loyal to the land." As news-gathers, these creatures serve to alert her to what's happening "out there" as well as focussing herself on her own horizons.
Ngaromoana was born in 1957 in Wairoa, Hawkes bay and now lives at Mahia Beach with her family
Ngaromoana has been exhibiting regularly since 1987 and her work has shown at the the Manawatu Art Gallery, the Aotea Centre, the Hawkes Bay Museum, Canterbury University, the Suter Gallery, the Tairawhiti Museum and numerous other locations within Aotearoa.
Her work has been shown on the international stage in Kuala Lumpur and the New Zealand High Commission in Ireland.
Ngaromoana has completed commissions for many organisations such as the Maori Land Court, Te Puni Kokiri and the Hawke's Bay Area Health Board.