How Auckland museum is unpacking centuries of colonial legacy and indigenising itself

Friday, 4 December 2020

Tumuaki of Māori and Pacific development at Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira, Dion Peita, in their new refurbished south atrium entrance.

Dion Peita calls it unpacking centuries of colonial intent.

Three years ago when Auckland War Memorial Museum, Tāmaki Paenga Hira, started a conversation about indigenising its collections, Peita, tumuaki of Māori and Pacific development, knew it wouldn't be easy – but necessary.

“Lets be quite clear, many of the (museum) collections that exist around the country were built upon colonial objectives, but in the 21st century, that colonial approach is very much being pushed to the fringes.”

The museum is staging its first public conversation on Monday about decolonising its collections. Part of the Ngā Kākano wānanga series, the event will feature a panel of Māori and Pasifika speakers of renown and deep cultural mana, and will be the first large event to be staged in the recently opened Te Ao Mārama South Atrium.

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The wahi whakanoa, by artist Chris Bailey, will enable tikanga practice of whakanoa to be carried out, a vital and important element for the museum’s Te Ao Mārama South Atrium.

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The South Atrium entrance is called Te Ao Marama. Te Tatau Kaitiaki (The Guardians Gateway) has been inserted into two doors attached to the pillars that the visitor moves through as they enter and exit the space.

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The talanoa is not its first attempt to ensure the institution is reflective of the diversity of Tāmaki Makaurau, but part of a three-year struggle to bring this to the forefront.

Peita said the challenge is about making sure Tāmaki makaurau’s cultural institution reflects the diversity and the voices of the people within their collections, and around them.

It’s a courageous conversation to be had, especially as many museums established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries have legacies rooted in colonialism, he said.

Emeritus Professor Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku says Māori have been struggling to reassert ownership on their taonga for a long time.

But there is a generational shift in attitudes.

This is evident in the Black Lives Matter movement and the removal of colonial-era statues memorialising individuals from the colonial past in parts of New Zealand.

Museums like Auckland are hoping to be a part of that cultural epoch.

Albert Refiti will be part of a panel of experts that will discuss the decolonising and indeginising of museums at the Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira.

“We’re now recentering the conversation around, well if these collections are being collected then how can our communities have a greater resonance with the way we talk and research and present it?

“It’s about enriching the museum with deep cultural knowledge and value that is specific to Māori and Pasifika, countering the dominant colonial knowledge of things.”

Peita isn’t afraid to admit that the work to decolonise and indigenise the museum will be easy, or happen overnight, but it was making sure indigenous knowledge and collections are brought to the fore and better valued.

Cultural expert, Emeritus Professor Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku, said decolonising is a trendy term only applied in the last few years.

Māori have been reclaiming and reasserting ownership on their taonga for a very long time.

She said significant Māori figures like Māui Pōmare, Sir Āpirana Ngata, Mākereti Papakura and Te Rangi Hīroa (Sir Peter Buck), and Lili’uokalani, Salote and Tupua Tamasese Lealofi-o-ā'ana III from the Pacific have been involved in this struggle for decades.

The Te Māori Exhibition in 1984 is a great example of this.

“It’s not a new thing, it’s an old struggle. It’s not something that was invented by that phrase, or realised by the people working in the institution today,” Te Awekōtuku said.

The challenge of decolonising museums bear heavily on having qualified and diverse staff, she said.

“That’s really the basic point – if you have a massive collection of Māori and Pasifika materials then how many of the full-time, ongoing, continuing staff, not contracted in or fixed term, but permanent staff, who are Māori and Pasifika, hold responsibility for its interpretation and care?”

Design and representation, having good allies and genuine connections with communities of origin and Pākeha is also important.

“When those connections unravel or weaken, and that can happen in the appointment of a new director or funding crisis, we can see staff go slightly [awry].

“Mind you at Auckland, that hasn't happened. We’ve got a really competent and qualified Pasifika and Māori staff, although there is still very few of them – there should be lots more.”

Peita said their work is more about adding and considering representation and diversity for the future.

The museum has a comprehensive checklist, and works collaboratively through the support of its Taumata-ā-Iwi, Pacific Advisory and iwi working groups to consider what’s appropriate for its spaces.

They have experts like curators and researchers to make sure that information they hold in their care is accurate.

“We are truly transforming in such a way that if you come to the museum you’ll really see the sense of commitment that we have to our Te Ao Mārama.

“You will start to see our identity and culture on display to all of our audiences. It’s also not just about the display but the journey to get there.”

Te Awekōtuku said there is still a long way to go to indigenise museums, but she is optimistic after what she’s observed in the past 50 years.

“The way ahead is not as neo-colonial or racist as some people may fear.

“I’d like to think the museum environment is a place in which all the different communities of Aotearoa can reach out to each other and can achieve something really special, present a legacy for the generations yet to come because that’s what museums ideally should do.”