In 2011 I had the pleasure of working with Ngai Tahu artist Rachael Rakena and whanau on her work Haka Peepshow, commissioned by the Dunedin City Council with Ngai Tahu, within the context of the 2011 Rugby World Cup and the release of the Waitangi Tribunal Report, Wai 262, on 2 July 2011.
“Haka Peepshow is a celebration of the diversity of contemporary haka in Maori and broader New Zealand culture. In an era, when the haka is frequently a commercial branding device, this coin-operated peepshow invites viewers to take a fresh look at the haka and to consider it in the broader context of the sexualisation and commodification of Maori sportsmen and the representation of their masculinity and culture in the media.”
“Haka Peepshow is presented in a viewing booth in the form of a ‘pou’. A pou is a post, upright, support, pole, pillar, or goalpost, but it can also reference a teacher or expert. The Haka Peepshow pou also references the shape of the black ‘Rexona for Men’ aerosol deodorant – a product endorsed by the All Blacks. Five metres high with a diameter of 1.2metres, the high-gloss black pou has four ‘peepholes’ to enable viewers to look at four different haka performed by three leading exponents: Selwyn Parata, Tame Iti, Wetini Mitai-Ngatai; and two young Ngai Tahu leaders – Waiariki Parata-Taiapa and Taikawa Tamati-Elliffe.”