Lifting the cloak on
It took six years of dedicated work by a small team of people to get Te Papa’s latest exhibition, Kahu Ora: Living Cloaks, ready to open to the public last week.
Most exhibitions at Te Papa are the culmination of one-and-a-half or two years’ work.
Living Cloaks is based on the Whatu Kakahu: Maori Cloaks book published last year by Te Papa and the National Weavers Collective.
Research for the book started in 2007.
Lead Maori curator Awhina Tamarapa, from Plimmerton, said after doing six years of research for the book, creating an exhibition was natural.
‘‘We had all this information and the networks we had made by seeing weavers around the country.
‘‘It just seemed silly not to have an exhibition and put our taonga [treasures] on display,’’ she said.
‘‘The normal process at Te Papa is there is a team of people who work on different aspects.
‘‘We have a curator with the ideas and building the context and information. We have designers, conservators, mount makers producing the mounts, writers to hone the writing for the labels and more.’’
When Tamarapa gave us a sneak peek in the exhibition room, normally top-secret until opening day, she was noticeably emotional about seeing her team’s work set up.
‘‘ At the moment I am just
Textiles conservator Rangi Te Kanawa, mount maker Penny Angrick and collection manager and weaver Mark Sykes gently place a 150-year-old cloak on a custom-made mount. worried and nervous. I am hoping people will come in here and be proud of their heritage. Then I will know we have succeeded.’’
The exhibition room on the fourth floor of Te Papa is changed completely to accommodate every exhibition.
The walls are repainted and new display cases are constructed or recycled from previous exhibitions.
The display cases for Kahu Ora: Living Cloaks were used for the Unveiled: 200 years of wedding fashion exhibition.
They are designed to ensure a stable environment for fabrics.
Tamarapa said one of the main things the team considers when designing the space is that an exhibition is an experience.
‘‘You want them to be inspired and learn about history and about the collections – you want to captivate the audience,’’ she said.
‘‘It is in how you place an object, the lighting, what they read about it. You have to look at the overall layout of the show, consider different segments and their themes.’’
Head designer Lesley Fowler said when the designers decided on the colours, fonts, and other visual elements, they focused strongly on bringing the concept to life.
‘‘There’s lots of little details that help give life to the exhibition.