Brett Graham bags Venice invite

An art piece about a drowned Maori village could be on its way to one of the world's largest art fairs.

Brett Graham and Rachel Rakena are trying to raise a quarter of a million dollors to get their collaborative work Aniwaniwa to the Venice Biennale, which starts in June.

New Zealand is not sending an official entry, but the multi-media sculpture was picked up by the biennale's curator after its run at Te Manawa gallery in Palmerston North.

Graham says Aniwaniwa uses video screens mounted in fibreglass sculptures hanging on the ceiling to tell the story of his father's home kainga Horahora, which now lies below Lake Karapiro on the Waikato River.

“We built these large forms because it was all about drowning and submersion. The idea was creating something so big it was actually gave you the impression you were experiencing some sort of disorientation, almost like you were under the water,” Graham says.

He has attended two Venice Biennales, and they always challenge what he thinks is sculpture.

LACK OF STATE CASH CRAMPING BOARDING SCHOOLS

The head of a Feilding's Hato Paora College says changes to scholarship rules is starting to have a significant negative effect on Maori boarding schools.

Tihirau Shepherd says the age pupils qualify for a state grant has been raised, and students are less likely to start a new school mid way through their secondary schooling.

He says that means demand has fallen off from some of the schools' main catchments, Maori living in remote areas like the East Coast and Northland.

“Many of them had the option of going off to boarding schools and they were under grants and scholarships, but I’m sad to say that in terms of Maori education and the promotion of Maori education, creating opportunities for Maori, certain people in the kawana went and changed mid stream and put the scholarship eligibility to age year 10, year 14,” Mr Shepherd says.

He says the Maori boarding schools get better academic results than Maori can expect from mainstream schools.

MAORI TARGETED FOR UNI ORIENTATION

It's orientation week at the country's tertiary institutions, and some of the universities and polytechnics are paying special attention to their new Maori students.

Colleen Noble from the Auckland University of Technology says this year AUT has about 1300 Maori students at its two campuses.

Ms Noble says higher education can be daunting for young Maori, and the university tries to welcome them into a whanau environment which can give them support during their studies.

“We're transitioning new Maori learners into the university environment. For some of them, they’re first generation Maori learners as well, so it’s just about allowing them to come through, get a feel for the campus and for the whanau that’s going to on the campus to help them for their studies,” Ms Noble says.

The majority of AUT's Maori students are studying health-related courses.

SUBMERGED VILLAGE TO SUBMERGING CITY

New Zealand won't be officially represented at this year's Venice Biennale, but Maori artists Brett Graham and Rachael Rakena will be at one of the world's most prestigious art fairs.

Their collaborative work, Aniwanawa, has been accepted as one of the collateral events running alongside the main biennale from June to November.

The work, which has been shown at Te Manawa gallery in Palmerston North, consists of five fibreglass sculptures suspended from the ceiling.

Graham says internal video screens play pictures and films about Horahora, the Waikato town where his father grew up, which is now submerged under Lake Karapiro.

“Because I grew up with those stories, I’m sort of using that idea of submersion as a metaphor for cultural loss and we’re taking the picture out to refer to global warming and the rest of it with all the Pacific islands that are under threat, and of course it has so many repercussions with the fact that Venice is under threat,” Graham says.

TEACHERS KEY TO BOYS’ ACHIEVEMENT

South Auckland educationlist Te Keepa Stirling says the way to tackle low Maori achievement rates is to find teachers who identify with Maori boys.

More than half the Maori boys who left school in 2005 had not achieved level one in the National Certificate of Education Achievement.

Mr Stirling says Maori boys see few positive Maori male role models in their schooling, and they suffer from a lack of knowledge about their culture and background.

“We need to have teachers who can relate to our Maori boys, teachers who understand their tikanga Maori, the culture, our protocols that gives us that status, but at the momennt we’re still struggling to overcome a lot of these areas. And of course the result is our boys are suffering,” Mr Stirling says.

He says many teachers see Maori boys as being a problem rather than as having potential.

RAGLAN ARRESTS REMEMBERED

The 29th anniversary of the arrests at Raglan Golf course was celebrated quietly this year, but plans are afoot for a big celebration next year.

Angeline Greensill says there was a small ceremony this week at what is now known as Whaingaroa to mark the occupation led by her mother, the late Eva Rickard.

The arrest of 17 protesters and subsequent court cases opened the country's eyes to the history of the land, which was taken from Tainui Awhiro for an airport during world war two.

Ms Greensill says it also opened her eyes and led to her commitment to Maori nationalism.

“I was absolutely appalled at the fact that here were the people standing up on an urupa singing Tama Ngakau Marie, which is a son of peace hymn, and being dragged off into the paddy wagon because they were breaking the law,” Ms Greensill says.