The journey of the carved house Hinemihi o Te Ao Tawhito (Hinemihi of the old world) is one defined by cataclysmic events and the unpredictability of elemental forces. Through eruptions, fires, wars and displacement she has endured. Today she is an honoured kuia, revered by her iwi in the United Kingdom and her original owners and creators, Tuhourangi, as well as the wider iwi of Te Arawa. Hinemihi is also an artwork, a taonga of rare beauty whose artist carvers, Tene Waitere and Wero Taroi, are celebrated in this publication.
Hinemihi o Te Ao Tawhito will return to Aotearoa after over a century standing in the gardens of Clandon Park in Surrey, home of the Onslow family whose ties to New Zealand date to the tenure of the 4th Earl, William Hillier Onslow’s tenure as Governor-General in the 1890s. This publication is also a celebration of one of New Zealand’s most distinguished photographic artists, Mark Adams, and marks his recent exhibition Hinemihi: Te Hokinga – The Return at Two Rooms Gallery in July and August 2020. Hinemihi: Te Hokinga – The Return also features numerous unpublished historic images sourced from private collections and New Zealand museums. The preparation of the publication has taken place in close consultation with Nga Kohinga Whakairo – the Rotorua based organization which represents Hinemihi’s ancestral iwi Tuhourangi, Ngati Hinemihi and Ngati Tarawhai.