Sonia Snowden
Ngāti Whatua, Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Wa
Ngāti Whatua, Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Wa
Sonia Snowden, Ngā Here o te Ao exhibition, Te Papa Tongarewa 2000. Photographed by Norm Heke
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Ko Rākaumangamanga te Maunga
Ko Rāwhiti te Marae Ko Ipipiri Herenga Waka te Moana Ko Taumarere te awa Ko Ngāti Kuta te Hapū Ko Ngāpuhi te Iwi Ko Rāhiri te tupuna Raised in the Waikare community of Northland, Sonia began to weave in the early 1980s and was taught the art of whāriki by Emily Schuster of Te Arawa. She also received instruction from Ramari Ropata, Erenora Puketapu-Hetet, Aromea Tahiwi and Nellie Frost in other aspects of weaving.
Sonia says that harakeke has been a ‘friend’ for many years, transformed by her hands into the finest quality tukutuku, whāriki, kākahu and kete whakairo. Today, ‘A Sonia Snowden Kete’ is uttered like a luxury brand name and her weaving exhibited globally and held in museum collections. As a long-serving weaving tutor at Te Wānanga o Raukawa in Ōtaki, Sonia has passed on the knowledge of te wharepora to several generations of weavers. She is widely regarded for her teaching in marae around Aotearoa, and contribution to many Māori and iwi-lead weaving projects.
Adopted by her hometown community, Sonia was asked to lead a team of skilled weavers in 2001 to recreate the famed tukutuku panels of the Rangiātea Church in Ōtaki, which fell victim to arson in 1995. As a member of Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa and elected member of Te Kāhui Whiritoi, Sonia’s acclaimed kete whakairo featured prominently in The Eternal Thread: Te Aho Mutunga Kore, which toured museums in North America and Aotearoa between 2004-2006. In 2014 Sonia was also one of 60 Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa weavers commissioned by Dr Pita Sharples, then Minister of Māori Affairs, to create a suite of panels for the United Nations headquarters in New York, and first exhibited at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in 2015. That project was led by Christina Hurihia Wirihana, who went on to engage Sonia in the restoration of tukutuku in Hotunui, the whare whakairo at the Auckland Museum.
More recently, Sonia’s kete whakairo featured in Te Puna Waiora: The Distinguished Weavers of Te Kāhui Whiritoi at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna Waiwhetu (2021-22). However, there is no place like home, with Sonia contributing to group exhibitions with weavers connected to Ōtaki and the Toi Whakarākai programme at Te Wānanga o Raukawa. Recent exhibitions include Tiaho Mai at Kiwibank Paraparaumu and Te Ringa Māhorahora at Toi Matarau Gallery as the inaugural Ngā Aho Whenua weaver in residence at the Māoriland Hub. This residency allowed Sonia and fellow resident, Pip Devonshire, the opportunity to weave alongside their peers and engage with their community on a daily basis, exchanging knowledge and experience and filling each other’s kete mātauranga. “If it’s not shared, if it’s not taught it will end up like the moa, ka ngaro."
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