“Out of all the stations, this was the one,” says artist Tessa Harris (Waiohua, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāpuhi) when she visited the City Rail Link’s Maungawhau Station site with her sons recently.
“I don’t think it’s by chance that I’m here,” she adds, referring to her grandmother’s Maungawhau whakapapa to Waiohua. Tessa descends from Puhihuia, the legendary daughter of the Chief of Maungawhau. Read the story below.
Auckland Council and City Rail Link Limited (CRL Ltd) invited Tessa to share her art, which adorns the walls of the foyer of the new station, with her whānau.
Her two sons, Kian Ah Sue (21) and Kalani Ah Sue (19), watched with her as the patterned, basalt wall of trickling water, designed and conceived by Tessa, was turned on.
“Having visibility of Māori art in our city is important. Ten years ago it wasn’t obvious. We couldn’t be seen. I can see Māori live here now. This is what makes us unique in Aotearoa and here in Tāmaki,” Tessa says.
“Public transport definitely is the way to go. Auckland will feel like an international city when the City Rail Link opens. I'm going to Japan in a couple of months. I'm really looking forward to it, as the main way to get around is on trains,” Tessa says.
Tessa was born in Ōtāhuhu. She studied weaving, and always had a yearning to carve.
“I loved raranga (weaving) and I also wanted to carve, but I was told I wasn't allowed to. It wasn't a woman's thing. I finally got into carving, and things started opening up for me. I stopped listening to all the stereotypes and accepted that women can and do carve.”
“I was excited to be nominated as one of the mandated artists named by the Mana Whenua Forum in their partnership with CRL Ltd.
“I’m extremely proud. It's one of those moments. I almost doubted myself, thinking this was such a big project. It’s an absolute honour. Yes, it’s been an honour to work on this City Rail Link project with the architects.
“When I was first given the project, I was asked to make a basalt wall, using concrete with some basalt in it. I immediately thought of the maunga – Maungawhau. Using basalt from here to connect the art back to this place, my tupuna whenua.”
Triangular shape
She explains that she likes the triangle shape, and its reference to the volcanic geology of Tāmaki Makaurau.
“That was guiding me throughout the story. It represents strength, power and purity. It's the shape of the mountains. A maunga can stand strong, with a solid base.
“Using basalt, from Maungawhau, together with the shape of the triangle – it was making the connection I was after.”
There are 53 red glass triangles on the towering south wall of the station. They represent the mountains and craters that are part of this volcanic region. The triangles are the work of contemporary glass artist Sofia Athineou in collaboration with Tessa.
“Glass was the closest thing we could get to represent lava. The light bounces off them. You can see the different tones of hot lava in the red glass,” Tessa says.
Whānau
Tessa speaks fondly about her children. “So the matāmua (oldest) is my daughter Tiana. She is an amazing mother to my two beautiful moko. The next one is Kian. He is 21 and he's studying to be a physiotherapist. Kalani is the pōtiki (youngest). He's 19 and studying to be a pilot.
Maungawhau Station artist Tessa Harris with her sons Kalani Ah Sue (left) and Kian Ah Sue (right).
“It was really cool to have my sons here today, because I kind of just do my thing sometimes. They just know I'm busy. They know different projects that I'm working on, but quite often they don't get to see them.
“So it was really special having them here. They support me with everything I do. It’s going to be amazing to bring my daughter and two mokopuna here too. I have Noah (10) and Casey (8) every Tuesday. I pick them up after school and we go and do something.
“They’ve basically been brought up over at Great Barrier Island. So the big city to them is quite fun and exciting. We've been catching double decker buses over the bridge.
“So this is going to be on the list definitely on our Tuesdays when the station opens - to catch a train here and show them ‘my station’”, she says.
Ancestry
Tessa’s grandmother Tipi Puhihuia Whitmore (nee Kirkwood) descends directly from Puhihuia. “My grandmother holds the name Puhihuia, after Puhihuia from Maungawhau. It’s a name that has been passed down over the generations in our whānau,” Tessa explains.
In an extract from the Journal of New Zealand Studies, the beginnings of the romance between Puhihuia and Ponga are explained: ‘There was a longstanding state of warfare between the people of Maungawhau (Mount Eden) and of Āwhitu (south of the entrance to Manukau Harbour). Neither side prevailing, an uneasy peace is agreed between them. It is in this period that Ponga,‘a chief from Āwhitu’, leads a party of visitors across the harbour to the large pā at Maungawhau, where they are welcomed with speeches and feasting.
During the subsequent dancing, both Ponga and Puhihuia,‘the young daughter of the chief’ of Maungawhau, contrive to place themselves in the front rank of their respective haka parties, and by this demonstration of their beauty and skill in performing, each conceives a passionate desire for the other.’ Source: University of Victoria.
