Wāhine-led carving studio helps women take up the chisel

A collective of wāhine Māori carvers is creating a safe environment to support women who want to learn the craft.

Te Ana o Hine is a recently established wāhine-led carving studio at Te Tuhi in Pakuranga, Auckland. Its name translates to "the cave of Hine", referring to “all atua hine”.

Carver and artist Ngaroma Riley (Te Rarawa, Te Aupouri) said having a safe space for wāhine to work in is “really important”.

“There are a lot of people who have been told that they can't carve, that they shouldn't carve, that it's not OK to carve. That something will happen to them if they carve," she said. “So it's important for us to support one another.”

Fellow carver Christine Harvey ((Kāi Tahu whānui, Kāti Mamoe, Moriori, Ngāti Mutunga, Te Ati Awa, Ngāti Toa Rangatira) said the studio is a “sanctuary” for wāhine ringa whao or women carvers.

“We have been often isolated and it is in the companionship of others like ourselves where we feel we can express ourselves and practise with a lot of fun, and a lot of joy.”

Traditionally, carving was seen as a predominantly male craft. Harvey believes it’s due to tikanga surrounding women’s ability to bear children.

However, she adds: “From another carver who has supported me, he would disagree and say that carving is for everyone and you just need to be passionate and we are all able to carve if we wish.”

There is a growing movement of women taking up the tools and some tertiary institutions are actively encouraging women to sign up for their carving courses.

Riley said the wāhine ringa whao set the tone, the framework and tikanga to be able to carve in the workshop.

The collective is made up of sixteen wāhine ringa whao. They are fundraising so they can wānanga and collaborate on a large-scale project carving a waka kōpapa.

“We have ringa whao living all over the motu and it'll be an opportunity for us to get together, get on a whao together, upskill, share our knowledge with one another, learn about other people's whakaaro.”

Riley and Harvey are both part of the group behind Te Ana o Hine though they live on two different islands.

“We have been trying to get together for a long time and honestly, for the last, I don’t know how many years now - four years, five years? - everything has been self-funded by us,” said Harvey.

Riley said she has always “desperately” wanted to carve. “At least it's one of the longest memories that I have of really, badly, wanting to do something,” she said. She recalls her first attempt at 15 when she carved a tekoteko out of balsa wood which turned out to be, in her words, a “disaster” that left her “demoralised”.

It wasn’t until she moved to Japan that she started to learn to carve Buddhist statues while teaching at an all-girls school.

She said she felt fortunate to have learnt in an environment where there weren’t “a whole lot of restrictions” and there were “loads” of wāhine carvers who overcame physical limitations and were respected by their male counterparts. It made her dream to learn how to carve achievable, she said.

“Because there's so many obstacles, and a lot of them are physical because it is hard work, so to see these little women dragging these massive logs around, you know, that was really cool for me, I was like, 'oh, they can do that!'”

She believes visibility is important to inspire taiohi, particularly younger women who are keen to take up the tools.

“If they can see that we're doing it then they won't be afraid to carve and they can come hang out with us and we'll get them on the chisels.”

wahine – woman

wāhine – women

Te Ana o Hine – the cave of Hine

atua – god(s), deit/y/ies

ringa whao – carver

wānanga – seminar, conference, forum; to meet, to discuss

waka kōpapa – small, dugout canoe

motu – country

whao – chisel

whakaaro – thoughts

tekoteko – carved Māori figure

taiohi – youth, adolescent, young person