A 



. dictionary definition of the word taonga will fail 

 to reveal its full significance. A Dictionary of the Maori 

 Language, by Herbert W. Williams,* tells us that it 

 means "property" or "anything highly prized." Then, 

 in one of the examples of how the word is used in a 

 sentence, we are told that "posture dancing is a big 

 taonga." (Ko te tangata maori taonga nui tenei, te haka, 

 mo te manuhiri.) This important word appears in the 

 Maori text of the Treaty of Waitangi ( 1840), where it 

 has a range of meanings. In the English text of the 

 treaty it is supposed to mean "property," but to Maori 

 people it means a great deal more than material posses- 

 sions. When we speak of nga taonga tuku iho, that is, of 

 prized possessions handed down by the ancestors, we 

 include highly prized segments of our culture such as 

 dancing (mentioned above), the language, the oral 

 literature, the arts, and the traditions and our history. 



The word stands for material objects such as art 

 objects and heirlooms as well as for the immaterial ele- 

 ments of culture such as language, the traditions and 

 history, and associations with tapu (sacredness) and 

 mana (prestige). While the word taonga includes within 

 its orbit art objects as well as the performing arts, it is 

 not confined to them alone. However, here I want to 

 discuss the concept of taonga in relation to the sort of 

 art objects exhibited in New York (1984), in St. Louis 

 and San Francisco (1985), and in Chicago at the Field 

 Museum (1986). I want to confine my comments to the 

 category known to the Maori as taonga whakairo, that 

 is, to art objects. For my purposes here I will accept as 

 art objects any of the pieces that were selected by "ex- 

 perts" from the United States and New Zealand for 



^Published by Government Printer, Wellington, New Zealand, 

 1957. 



inclusion in the "Te Maori" Exhibition. 



These objects are expertly crafted, each has a his- 

 tory and in this sense a life of its own; and each has, as 

 a vital part of it, a story consisting of many words. The 

 words might be those spoken at the ceremony in which 

 the object was presented to its new owner — a cere- 

 mony of separation from the artist and of formally 

 severing his "ownership" and influence over the object. 

 Or the words might be those spoken by the artist and 

 others while the object was being created. Yet again the 

 words might be the story of how the object was passed 

 down the generations from one owner to the next and 

 so on. Or how the object was found after being lost for 

 a long time. These words are part of what makes a 

 lump of wood or stone an art object — a taonga — and a 

 thing of cultural significance. 



In the production stage the artist builds words into 

 the object he carves, and usually after a lot of reflection 

 and discussion with other people. The words are not 

 actually written into the wood but rather are summa- 

 rized and represented by well-understood motifs and 

 forms such that the viewer can "read" the artistic mes- 

 sage. An example can be seen in the Patetonga door 

 lintel from the Auckland Museum. Carved round about 

 1840-50, this is a superbly composed lintel which re- 

 tells a powerful origin myth (fig. 2). 



This is the story of the culture-hero Maui, who 

 sought immortality for mankind. What he thought he 

 would do was take death out of the hands of the God- 

 dess of Death, Hine-nui-te-po. He had just obtained fire 

 for man by taking it away from the Goddess of Fire, 

 Mahuika. Now he was going to find the very source of 

 life, gain control of that and so give people the power to 

 live forever. The Goddess of Death is shown in the cen- 

 ter of the lintel and she can be seen lying down with 



