Tua Whitu by Michael Parekōwhai

Being

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Making

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Tua Whitu

Tua Whitu

Artist

Michael Parekōwhai
Production Date

1999
Medium

custom-made ‘Patriot’ semi-acoustic jazz guitar, maple, spruce, rewarewa, kauri, ebony and paua
Size

1200 x 570 x 500 mm
Credit

Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2001
Accession Number

C2001/1/5.1-4
Accession Date

22 Feb 2001
Department

New Zealand Art
Classification

Object
Collection

Chartwell
Subjects

guitars, paua, popular culture, nationalism
Description

This instrument is one of a unique edition which has the collective title Ten Guitars. Each customised instrument has different patterns derived from kowhaiwhai (rafter paintings) and, like all multiple art works, each is numbered. Tua whitu, ‘the seventh’ in Te Reo Māori, is inlaid in paua-shell lettering at the 12th fret.

Engelbert Humperdink’s song Ten Guitars – the ‘B’ side of Please Release Me (1967) – was forgotten in the rest of the world but appropriated by Māori who had moved from rural areas to cities. As the artist has stated ‘in the 60s the guitar was like a portable marae’.
toru, wha…

(Recent Contemporary Acquisitions, 2002)