Toi tauira at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa are as well known for producing excellence in their work as they are for the exhibitions that take place at the end of each academic year.  

This year is no exception.

Along with being an excellent showcase for tauira mahi, the exhibitions also provide the whanaungatanga and manaakitanga which enables us to learn about these works and connect with each other.  

Exhibitions are a mainstream methodology which work well within a Māori framework as they create an occasion which includes gathering, ceremony, celebration and kai.

At the end of year exhibitions around the country, tauira displayed skill to a very high level in media including raranga, rauangi and whakairo.   

The featured are images taken from exhibitions in Rotorua, at the Penny Haka Gallery, and at Toimairangi in Hastings.

Jovanah Abrahams is a Level 6 tauira, and her work ‘Whare Tangata’ is part of the exhibition at Toimairangi in Hastings. 

It is the beginning of an exploration of mana wāhine, a kaupapa she is excited about pursuing. 

Toimairangi tauira created an exhibition this year called ‘Tutira,' which opened on November 24. 

This strong and well-balanced work connects with ideas about whakapapa and the place of women in the birthing of a marae.  Jovanah intends to extend on this kaupapa for her final year in 2018 at Toimairangi.

Nigel Hongi Hobsons’s stunning stainless steel Mere featured at the Penny Haka Gallery at Whakarewarewa as a part of the student exhibition ’Ahua,' a combined show for all three of raranga, rauangi and whakairo being taught at Turipuku campus. 

Nigel is a Level 5 whakairo student who came to the programme with some previous skill and experience.

The Rotorua exhibition has finished, but Tū tira ends this week in Hastings. 

The Whirikoka exhibition, Makauri, and Te Haerenga Nui at Porirua concluded yesterday.