The exhibition Te Maori is an undeniable moment in Māori museum and gallery history for the way in which taonga Māori were given the same treatment as contemporary art objects. Starting in New York in 1984, the exhibition went on to tour other major US centres before returning home for a nationwide tour titled Te Hokinga Mai in 1987.

While lauded for putting te ao Māori on the global stage, it also received critique for its exclusion of arts associated with wāhine Māori and contemporary art. The response was multi-faceted. In 1990, Kohia ko Taikaka Anake was co-curated by three men, Tim Walker (Pākehā), Sandy Adsett (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Pāhauwera) and Paratene Matchitt (Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Te Whakatōhea, Ngāti Porou), with the aim of showcasing contemporary Māori art. However, their curatorial selections were seen as privileging tāne Māori and in response several wāhine Māori chose not to participate in the show.

Another development in 1990 was the hosting of the Taonga Māori Conference by Te Roopū Manaaki i Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho, the Cultural Conservation Advisory Council, whose chair was the trailblazing Mina McKenzie (Ngāti Hauiti, Ngāti Raukawa, Te Āti Haunui a Pāpārangi, Rangitāne). Mina is someone whose legacy and reputation have echoed throughout my time in the sector, from the first time I heard of her as a museum studies student, talking with an old boss and mentor of mine, David Butts, discovering we’re both from the Potaka whānau of Ngāti Hauiti. Mina was the first wahine Māori to direct a museum, and held many governance and committee roles throughout the sector including as the New Zealand representative on the International Council of Museums (ICOM).

With the Taonga Māori Conference, and as shared by Mina’s foreword in the conference publication, the organising committee were taking up the wero from kaumātua after Te Maori. Kaumātua had been buoyed by the appreciation of our taonga and wanted to ensure that our practices, which had been included during the exhibition, were continued after its closure. In their words, “It was time to keep our taonga warm again.” The conference thus invited curators and museum staff who worked with taonga Māori in overseas institutions to Aotearoa for a ten-day conference that took place in museums, universities and marae from Auckland to Dunedin. This was a massive undertaking and it had the backing of the government of the time.

Te Maori is remembered and revered for getting our taonga to be appreciated at an unprecedented level on the global stage. I want us to also remember what it led to: more Māori working in museums and galleries, and a commitment to the tikanga and te reo that comes with them; more questions being asked as to who is not present, whether that be wāhine Māori or contemporary artists; the consciousness raising amongst our overseas counterparts as to our unending connection to our taonga that are in their collections.