Hui-aa-Tau (2025) with Waikato-Tainui

20/07/2025

Author: Maioha Tawa

Maanawa maiea te maatahi o te tau!
Maanawa maiea a Matariki ahunga nui,
Maanawa maiea a Matariki Taapuapua,
E te iwi whaanui tonu,
Nei raa te ringa aawhina e tohutohu ana,
Kia ikapahi mai ai ki runga o Hopuhopu!

One month after I learnt how to do Live Illustration with Te Pito Whakatupu, I was invited to practice my new skills at the 2025 Hui-aa-Tau. Every year, Waikato-Tainui has Hui-aa-Tau for tribal members to meet the hardworking kaimahi behind the scenes kanohi ki te kanohi, attend the Annual General Meeting to get the latest updates, explore career opportunities with vendors and participate in giveaways.

I was working behind the Te Pito Whakatupu stall, where the Kairangahau were collecting information from tribal members for the Mana Motuhake Research Project. There were four questions:

• What does Mana Motuhake mean to you?

• What does Mana Motuhake look like to your marae?

• In 100 years, how do you envision Mana Motuhake to look for your mokopuna?

• Who is somebody that embodies Mana Motuhake to you?

Our tribal members wrote their answers on post-it notes, and I would transform their (written) koorero into visual illustrations on paper so everyone could see. My questions were the first two in the list, and Te Rehia Ratu worked on the last two in the list. Our other Kairangahau were talking to and communicating with our tribal members while we were illustrating in the background.

I worked alongside Te Rehia Ratu, Te Taruna Parangi, Tukaroto Mahuta and Tiare Iti.

I did not digitise these posters, but may do so in the future. The cover photo is a photo from the previous years Hui-aa-Tau (2024) as I did not take any photos at the 2025 of myself!