E Hina e! E Hine e! Mana Waahine Maaori/Maoli of Past, Present and Future (review)

I begin this review by exposing myself as a sometimes-reluctant visitor to museums rather than an expert with a sharp eye for museological exhibitions. My reluctance stems from the sterile whiteness and theft often associated with museums—no apologies given. Museums have a reputation for not serving Indigenous communities well. However, the long-term exhibition E Hina e! E Hine e! Mana Waahine Maaori/Maoli of Past, Present and Futuresat me down like a well-meaning mafua (elder) and encouraged me to rethink my skepticism.

Curated by Nālani Wilson-Hokowhitu (Kanaka Maoli), Aroha Yates-Smith (Te Arawa, Tainui, Horouta, Takitimu, Mataatua), and Maree Mills (Ngaati Tuuwharetoa), this exhibition explores the creation stories of mana wāhine atua/akua (powerful female ancestors) as embodied ancestors of the living environment within the realm of Kanaka Maoli and Māori worldviews. The curators have brought to it a wealth of interpersonal, creative, and scholarly knowledge and experience, as well as the weight of their respective curatorial standings. Wilson-Hokowhitu, for instance, is the recipient of a Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden award (2021–2024) and is currently examining the narratives of Pacific women voyagers and the many manifestations of the wāhine ancestor Hina (for more on Wilson-Hokowhitu's work, see this issue's artist feature). Yates-Smith is a former professor and dean of the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies at the University of Waikato whose doctoral studies focused on the role of mana wāhine atua in the realm of Māori cosmology. Mills is the current Poutiaki Whakataki, Curator Tangata Whenua at the Waikato Museum and was instrumental in the development of Auckland's inaugural arts and cultural strategy, titled Toi Whītiki. These achievements, selected from the curators' biographical statements in the forthcoming exhibition catalogue, announce my first lesson in museum experience: it matters who tells the exhibitory story.

The title of any narrative is often tricky to develop because of the burden of precision and summary. The dual focus on Kanaka Maoli and Māori in this exhibition's title is captured respectively in the use of name variations such as E Hina e!/E Hine e!and Maaori/Maoli. Placing the subtle differences side by side can create the unintentional effect of camouflaging such distinctions to the point that an accidental reading of the title as either E Hina e! E Hina e! Mana Waahine Maoli of Past, Present, and Futureor E Hine e! E Hine e! Mana Waahine Maaori of Past, Present, and Futureis possible. However, the masked differences and the potential to misread the title are significant to the broad exhibition theme of ancestral links across the moana (ocean), so such interchanges are forgivable, if not highly encouraged. The theme of "relationships and connections" is expressed in the exhibition summary, which is mounted on the wall by the path leading to the main exhibition space: "We honour mana wāhine and our profound ancestral connections through our languages, cultures and contemporary struggles, from the warm waters of Hawai'i to the cool and clouded Aotearoa, New Zealand."

The act of honoring the narratives of mana wāhine akua/atua is realized through the selection of ninety-four taoga (artifacts). My unfamiliarity with exhibition standards compels me to ask the following questions: How does one even begin to curate a story with multiple akua/atua ancestors using so many artifacts? How does a viewer not get lost or exhausted from reading and walking through such an elaborate celebration of mana wāhine akua/atua? Wilson-Hokowhitu, Yates-Smith, and Mills addressed these challenges by creating a circular exhibition space and subdividing it...