Erenora Puketapu-Hetet

Erenora Puketapu-Hetet ONZM JP (née Puketapu, 28 January 1941 – 23 July 2006) was a noted New Zealand weaver and author. She was a key figure in the Māori cultural renaissance and helped lift Māori weaving from a craft to an art.

Of Te Atiawa descent, Puketapu-Hetet was born in Lower Hutt on 28 January 1941. Her parents were Vera May Puketapu (née Yeates), a Pākehā, and her husband Ihaia Porutu Puketapu. She grew up close to the marae in Waiwhetū near Wellington and moved to Te Kuiti after marrying Rangi Hetet, the master carver who had worked on the marae. While they lived in Te Kuiti, his grandmother, Rangimārie Hetet, taught her the arts of making korowai (cloaks). They returned to Waiwhetū and she worked at Te Papa as Maori /Advisor. Part of her work at Te Papa involved bridge-building between the Māori world and the European cultural institutions, leading to her featuring in a number of weaving-related works. A number of her works are in the collection at Te Papa.

In common with other Māori artists, she believed that art had a spiritual dimension and hidden meanings:

The ancient Polynesian belief is that the artist is a vehicle through whom the gods can create. Art is sacred and interrelated with the concepts of mauri, mana and tapu.

Maori weaving is full of symbolism and hidden meanings. embodied with the spiritual values and beliefs of the Maori people.

She wove using materials such as muka (prepared fibre of New Zealand flax), paua shell, stainless steel wire and feathers, including kiwi feathers.

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