Rua Kenana’s arrest Maungapohatu 1916

Ko tā te *Rua Kenana’s Arrest, Maungapohatu 1916*, 2012 he whai i te poropiti nō Tūhoe, a Rua Kēnana – ko Te Mihaia Hou tētahi anō ingoa ōna. Ko tāna kaupapa he ātete taikaha kore, ā, nāna i whakapeto ngoi ki te hanga i tētahi hapori mana motuhake, ukauka tonu, i Maungapōhatu. I te tau o 1916 ka whakahautia e te Karauna neke atu i te 70 o ngā āpiha mau pū ki te urutomo i tōna hapori i Maungapōhatu, ki reira whakarau ai i a ia, ka mutu ka hāmenetia ia mō te ‘ātetetanga matatika’. Nāna tētahi whare papa-rua porotaka i hanga, ko Hiona te ingoa, ā, ka whakanikohia ki ngā tohu purei kāri, he karapu kikorangi, he taimana kōwhai. Kei roto i te toi a Aimee Ratana ko Hiona, ko ngā tohu purei kāri, ko tētahi pū ā-ringa – he tohutoro ki te urutomo Pirihimana i te tau o 1916.

*Rua Kenana’s Arrest, Maungapohatu 1916*, 2012 follows the Tūhoe prophet Rua Kēnana or Te Mihaia Hou (The New Messiah) as he was also known. He believed in non-violent protest and worked to build an independent, self-sustaining community at Maungapohatu. In 1916 the Crown ordered more than 70 armed officers invade his Maungapohatu settlement where he was arrested and later convicted for ‘moral resistance’. He built a two-storey round house called Hiona (Zion) and decorated the structure with playing card symbols of blue clubs and yellow diamonds. In Aimee Ratana’s piece we see Hiona, the playing card symbols and a hand gun in reference to the actions of the Police invasion of 1916.

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