Cloud of Kiwi In cartoons and graphic novels, words in speech or thought bubbles hang above the character’s head like a cloud. This artwork is one great big cloud of thousands of words. The work by artist John Reynolds soil, corner dairy, puku, no-hoper. is called Cloud. It’s made of 7081 They’re all part of the English that individual canvas panels, each of them people in New Zealand speak. John Reynolds is painted with a word or phrase that ‘John Reynolds has always widely considered to be comes from the Oxford Dictionary of worked with language in his art,’ says one of fi nest artists New Zealand English – for example, curator Charlotte Huddleston. ‘He in New Zealand, with work held in all of this tin-arse, tough bickies, waka, pumice likes to play with words and he’s had a country’s major private and public collections. 8 English long fascination with the Dictionary ‘It took a team of five or six of New Zealand English.’ people six days altogether to install Reynolds created the work to Cloud at Te Papa,’ says Charlotte. reflect Aotearoa’s connection to ‘John was here, of course, leading the community of English-speaking the charge. We designed a special nations. At the same time he wanted storage system for it as well, with to highlight what is local and regional twelve canvases in a tray, five trays about the English that people in this in a box and a total of 125 boxes in a country speak. crate. All the parts are numbered and He arranged the words to create catalogued so we know where every the feeling of a billowing, condensing single word or phrase is.’ It’s made of 7081 individual canvas panels, each of them painted with a word or phrase. cloud of language – an impression of And that’s important because what constantly surrounds people at Cloud is unique every time it’s home, in the street or the classroom displayed. Just like a cloud that or workplace. changes shape depending on the ‘You can let your eyes roam weather, this artwork changes shape A work table for the around and read,’ says Charlotte, depending on the space you see it in. installation of Cloud. ‘and you can make up little poems or The work’s title refers absurd sentences.’ to language being like A large and complex artwork a cloud and to Aotearoa, the land of the long like this needs a lot of care to put on white cloud, home to display – and to store. New Zealand’s form of English. Curator Charlotte Huddleston with Simon in front of Cloud, on display at Te Papa. 9 Hinerangi’s hei tiki, made of pounamu from Westland. Both its suspension holes have broken, so it was obviously much worn over a long time. The Pink Terrace, 1885. The Pink and White Terraces were a world-famed beauty spot on Lake Rotomahana. They were submerged in the Mount Tarawera eruption. Hinerangi’s house at Te Wairoa in Gottfried Lindauer’s portrait of June 1886, half the renowned ‘Guide Sophia’, 1896. buried but still Te Paea Hinerangi was fl uent in standing amid both Màori and English, a huge the debris of advantage in dealing with English- the eruption. speaking tourists. 10 Sophia’s Hei Tiki Hei tiki may look small, but they are powerful treasures. They are passed down in families from one generation to another, gathering strength and stories from the people who wear them. Hei tiki are worn around the neck to see the renowned Pink and White mud and rocks began raining down, – ‘hei’ means to suspend, ‘tiki’ Terraces. They were on the shores burying the landscape for miles has various meanings to do with of Lake Rotomahana, at the foot of around. Sophia managed to shelter ancestors. The design has been Mount Tarawera. sixty-two people from her village, Te popular for hundreds of years. Many Late in May 1886 she told of a Wairoa, inside her house. The house hei tiki are carved from pounamu, disturbing experience in which she was strongly constructed and its like this one, though you’ll also see saw the lake’s water level suddenly steeply pitched roof stood up to the them made of whalebone and wood. fall and rise again. Then a canoe weight of the falling debris. But some Carvers these days also use materials appeared in the distance. At first there 150 people living in the area died. like acrylic. was one person in it, but as it came After this, Sophia went to live in Whakarewarewa in Rotorua and Then a canoe appeared in the distance. At fi rst became equally famous guiding visitors to the thermal area there. She there was one person in it, but as it came closer encouraged many other local women there were thirteen, all with dogs’ heads. to earn a living from guiding. Although Sophia’s hei tiki may This hei tiki belonged to Te closer there were thirteen, all with never be worn again, its stories will Paea (Sophia) Hinerangi, who lived dogs’ heads. The phantom canoe then continue to be shared, like those of in the Rotorua area from the 1870s disappeared. Sophia saw this as an many other hei tiki worn today. Ask to the early 1900s. She was known to omen that her days of guiding on the someone who’s wearing one! thousands of tourists as Guide Sophia. lake were coming to an end. For sixteen years, she ran a highly A few days later, on 10 June successful business taking visitors 1886, Mount Tarawera erupted. Ash, Curator Awhina Tamarapa with Te Paea Hinerangi’s hei tiki. The priceless taonga is now in Te Papa for safe keeping, but its stories continue to be told. An artist’s impression of Mount Tarawera erupting, 1886. People in Auckland heard the explosion and thought it was distant gunfi re. 11 Springbok New Zealand’s and South The ball was used in the fourth test of the 1956 series between the Africa’s rugby relationship Springboks and the All Blacks. The has had some tumultuous game took place at Eden Park in moments – both glorious Auckland. It brought rugby-mad New Zealand to a standstill. and notorious, depending ‘The All Blacks had won two on your point of view. A tests,’ explains curator Kirstie Ross. ball and a scooter helmet ‘The Springboks had won one. This was the decider – for a series draw, Minto wearing his tell of events that have or a win – and the All Blacks won trademark helmet reverberated off the pitch 11–5. They’d never cracked the ’Boks during the 1981 Springbok tour. for decades. in a series before. The crowd went mad, the country went mad – it was a moment of glory for a nation united Halt All Racist Tours organiser by rugby.’ John Minto’s scooter helmet, But South Africa’s apartheid laws bought by his girlfriend for meant that no black African could head protection during protests against the 1981 Springbok tour play for the Springboks until 1992. No of New Zealand.Zealand. MMāoriāori could play for the All Blacks ttouringourin in South Africa until 1970, and ththenen oonly as an ‘honorary white’. OOpposition to playing sport wwithith aapartheid-era South Africa Curator Kirstie Ross with a memento of New Zealand’s and South Africa’s rugby relationship. 14 The ball used in the series- Souvenirs decidingg fourth test match of the Springboks’pg 1956 tour gathered strength over the years. ‘John Minto, a HART protest of NewNew ZZealand.ea a Organisations like Halt All Racist Tours leader, was chased by angry fans into (HART) campaigned vigorously to a house and attacked,’ says Kirstie. ‘So stop the planned 1981 Springbok tour his girlfriend, fearing for his safety, Just before kick-off , 350 protesters invaded the pitch ... all hell broke loose when rugby fans vented their frustration on the protesters. of New Zealand. When the tour went went out and purchased this scooter ahead, protest spilled on to the streets helmet for him. And apparently it was and the country divided along pro- very effective. It got a few whacks, butt and anti-tour lines. it kept his head protected.’ ‘One of the most famous protests Today’s All Black–Springbok took place at the test match in encounters are strictly sporting Hamilton on 25 July,’ says Kirstie. ‘The affairs. But these two treasures country came to a standstill again – keep alive highlights – in but for a very different reason.’ celebrations and conflicts – Just before kick-off, 350 of a great rugby rivalry. protesters invaded the pitch. The police tried to clear the field, but the game ended up being cancelled. Outside the grounds, all hell broke loose when rugby fans vented their frustration on the protesters. Springbok tour supporterss Overview of the clash with protesters, capacity-crowd fourth Sandringham Road, test match of the Auckland, September 1981. Springboks’ 1956 tour, at Eden Park, Auckland. 15 Almighty There’s an old tale among ‘A lot of information about the bird is encrypted in its feathers,’ says sailors that it’s disastrous Sandy. ‘There’s genetic information, to harm an albatross, but we can find out about nutrition as the world’s largest and well. There are albatrosses here that died in the 1880s. We can tell from most spectacular seabird. their feathers what those birds were ‘With my cross-bow / eating then.’ I shot the Albatross’, Some of the birds come from times of terrible weather, which can Curator Sandy Bartle confesses the sailor in have a disastrous effect even on large, holds one of some two ST Coleridge’s The Rime strong fliers like albatrosses.