Paikea (Whale Rider) at the American Museum of Natural History

W dziewiętnastym i pierwszej połowie dwudziestego wieku kwitł handel egzotycznymi artefaktami, zwłaszcza tymi, pochodzącymi z części świata stanowiących kolonie potęg europejskich. Najróżniejszymi artefaktami wywodzącymi się z różnych rejonów Pacyfiku handlowano zarówno legalnie jak i nielegalnie, na skutek czego wiele z nich znajduje się teraz w prywatnych kolekcjach lub muzeach i innych instytucjach. Jednym z nich jest posąg Paikei, wspólnego przodka plemienia Maorysów.

Paikea was an important ancestor of the Māori tribes in Uawa (Tolaga Bay) on the East Coast of the North Island of Aotearoa (New Zealand). He survived a marine disaster in the ancient Hawaiki homeland of the Māori in the Pacific Ocean, by invoking, through incantation, the denizens of the deep sea to come to his rescue and take him ashore. Paikea eventually made landfall at Ahuahu (Mercury Island) in Aotearoa (New Zealand). After several excursions to the south-east, Paikea eventually made his way to the mouth of the Waiapu River on the East Coast, married Huturangi, and settled at Whangara. He is more popularly known throughout the world as “The Whale Rider,” from the movie of the same name.

Dla wielu jego potomków, Paikea jest ogniwem łączącym ich z ich starożytną ojczyzną Hawaiki, jak i z morskimi opowieściami i wiedzą o żegludze, a także z innymi plemionami zamieszkującymi północne wybrzeże obydwu wysp Nowej Zelandii. Jego postać jest upamiętniona w piosenkach, historiach genealogicznych, tańcach, powieściach, filmach i sztuce.

Paikea’s descedant, Te Kani a Takirau, was born 23 generations later, in about 1790. He was regarded throughout Māoridom as a leading ariki, a noble high-ranking person of his time. After Te Kani a Takirau’s death in 1856, a carved house was built by his people at Uawa, and named after him (see photograph at the top of the page). The carved figure on top was named Paikea, and notable orators composed a haka (posture dance) for this occasion:

Since that time, six generations of Paikea’s descendants have performed this haka. For the past four generations it has also been performed as a waiata ā-ringa, an action song. In the last two generations it has developed into a novel—The Whale Rider, by Witi Ihimaera—which became the basis for the movie of the same name. This legacy now centers on another house: Whitireia at Whangara, on top of which Paikea sits on his whale. Children who are born into the legacy of Paikea “absorb” the haka and the waiata ā-ringa while growing up, performing it with peers, parents, and grandparents. It is a tribal marker, a rallying call, an expression of pride, and a reminder of our origins.

In 1908, the American Museum of Natural History acquired the Te Kani a Takirau Paikea from Major General Horatio Robley (British Army), a colonial collector of the time. Paikea was eventually placed on a storage shelf until 2013 when a small group of Paikea’s descendants of Te Aitanga a Hauiti, the tribe of Uawa, arranged a visit to the museum for the purpose of reconnecting with this ancestor figure—part of a bigger plan to reconstruct the house Te Kani a Takirau, physically or digitally.

It was an emotional visit: a mix of tearful reunion, immense pride and melancholy reflection. Coincidentally, the visit occurred at the same time as the Whales (Tohorā) exhibition at the museum, which allowed us to share our Paikea stories with members of the public, museum professionals, students, and others.

Our parting with Paikea at the end of the week was difficult and tearful. As is our tradition, we left a gift with him as a token of our love: a carved whale tooth pendant sourced originally from a bull sperm whale that beached at Mahia in northern Hawkes Bay, New Zealand in 1967, which we secured around his neck. In doing so, we unknowingly transgressed museum acquisition protocols as well as international laws regarding trade in ivory, although we had done what was tika, or right, in our view. This provided an embarrassing conundrum for the museum curators who had hosted us, and so later that year the whale tooth was returned to us in New Zealand.

W 2017r. w ramach kręcenia serii filmów dokumentalnych pod tytułem „Artefakty” i z pomocą Greenstone TV, Amerykańskiego Muzeum Historii Naturalnej i znajomych po fachu z Auckland University, zorganizowaliśmy, tym razem legalnie,ponowne wręczenie zęba Paikei. Ponownie niewielka grupka z Te Aitanga a Hauiti towarzyszyła przekazaniu zęba wieloryba, i chociaż wizyta była zdecydowanie krótsza, była równie wzruszająca. Stanowiła również kolejną okazję do poruszenia kwestii przywrócenia Paikei do nowej Zelandii – procesu i jego skutków, zarówno dla muzeum jak i dla potomków Paikei i ich społeczności. Tym będziemy zajmować się w przeciągu kilku kolejnych miesięcy, kontemplując również nasze doświadczenia z figurą, będąca zarówno ikoną naszej historii jak i symbolem kolonialnego handlu artefaktami.