Te Kuia Moko – Women with Moko

Opening Sat 2 Mar 2:00 – 3:30pm As part of our 2019 programme, Depot Artspace is honoured to host Te Kuia Moko, an exhibition featuring thirty-four prints from the original paintings of kuia who bear the traditional moko. Painted by artist Harry Sangl in the early 1970s, Te Kuia Moko pays homage to the lives of these women and the tikanga of their time and place as embodied by Ta moko. In the absence of the original portraits, which have remained in storage for 25 years, the prints allow us once more to bring together these remarkable kuia, alongside their painter, Harry Sangl, who, in 2019 marks his 97th birthday. Te Kuia Moko also featured in ‘The Blue Privilege’, a book by Harry, which celebrates and tells the stories of these esteemed kuia. Kaupapa: “For the present and future generations I painted these old faces from life, to produce a record, not only of their appearance, but also to show their confidence, calm and dignity, the authority they had achieved by taking on the blue privilege of the moko – Harry Sangl, (from book ‘The Blue Privilege’) You can view/hear an interview with Harry Sangl on Depot Artspace’s Cultural Icons project:  https://culturalicons.co.nz/55-harry-sangl/