This article was first published on RNZ.
Fabric artist Maungarongo Te Kawa (from Ngāti Porou) was among those remembering the sacrifice of the Māori battalion on Friday.
Maungarongo was born shortly after World War II ended and grew up in Tikapa, Gisborne.
He had heard stories about his grandfather Maungarongopai Ni Te Kawa who died at 22 years old, leaving behind three children.
“I wasn’t told a lot, but the real stories are the stories of what they don’t tell you.
“There’s just this overwhelming sadness in our family...
“The fact that the story stayed alive actually shows the attitude that our family have had towards war and sacrifice, and I’ve always carried that with me as Maungarongo.”
One of the stories he heard from his siblings was that the army only brought his grandfather’s body back to a certain point, saying they didn’t have fuel to bring him to the marae.
Upset by the situation, his grandmother apparently took an axe to an army truck, he says.
As the years went by, he remembers waking up to the noise of the bugle on Anzac Day and joining the parade with his siblings and cousins.
Today, he feels a great responsibility with his family name, which means ‘to bring peace’ and was passed on from his father.
As well as peace, whakapapa is of great importance to Maungarongo too and that springs forth in his elaborate, colourful quilts.
“Every single thread, trying to pull Māori energy into my work - there’s so many different ways of exploring that and pushing back boundaries and so many techniques that we can use, that I suppose one of the main ways is by doing workshops.
“It can be really isolating being a textile artist and that’s not natural when you’re a Māori artist, so I like to get out as much and work with the community, work with different groups.”
Over two decades, he has told the stories of Māori through his distinctive quilting style and recently he has been across the motu teaching quilting workshops.
He has an exhibition and workshops running at Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery in Auckland.
By RNZ Online.
