Exchange student learning about new ways in museums

German exchange student Naomi Luederitz is learning about new ways of exhibiting taonga. She says He Kākahu Rerehua exhibition at Tairāwhiti Museum is a good example. Picture by Matai O’Connor

German exchange student Naomi Luederitz is working with Te Aitanga a Hauiti and Tairāwhiti Museum to learn more about how to properly care for and exhibit pou in a way that works with the community it is connected to.

She is studying at the Eberhard Karls University ot Tübingen and wanted to learn more about the Hinematioro Pou which sits at the Tübingen University Museum.

The 23-year-old is studying for her Bachelor of Social and Cultural Anthropology with a minor in art history.

Her exchange was born out of her passion for learning about the new way of museum curatorship which focuses on working with the communities that the pieces are from.

She is learning more about the Hinematioro Pou in order to better care for the taonga and to ensure she is exhibited  in a way that acknowledges its history and whakapapa.

In her first week she went to Tolaga Bay and met with the people of Te Aitanga a Hauiti who are connected to the pou.

She is working with Tapuhi  Tautau Broughton Tuapawa who has been showing her around the home of Hinematioro.

Tapuhi will be going to Tübingen and helping with the upcoming display of Hinematioro Pou.

The carving was a gift from East Coast paramount chief Hinematioro to the Endeavour crew in 1769 when they visited Pourewa Island.

The Hinematioro pou returned home to Ūawa in 2019 for six months but Covid-19 intervened and it was three years before she was returned to Tübingen.

Naomi learned about the Hinematioro pou through her studies and wanted to find out more about it and the connection to Tolaga Bay.

“I feel in my generation that is studying there is a push for change to how we curate exhibitions,” she said. “There needs to be more understanding,  better treatment and learning of protocols.”

In her studies New Zealand museums would always pop up as examples of the ways exhibiting is changing.

She saw how many were working with whānau, hapū and iwi, “talking to them, learning from them and getting help with exhibitions and reconnecting with the taonga”.

The exchange came about when she emailed former director of Tairāwhiti Museum Eloise Wallace. She asked about opportunities to come to Tairāwhiti and learn more about Hinematioro and the way the museum is working with different communities.

“I felt like it was going to happen and then it all worked out. I was overwhelmed at the beginning of this, but after meeting everyone I felt comfortable really quickly,” Naomi said.

She decided to start learning te reo Māori before her internship. She was nervous as she couldn’t figure out the pronunciation of some words but after hearing it being spoken every day she has started to pick up words and learn new ones each day.

She also experienced tikanga Māori first-hand when she attended an unveiling at Kahungunu Marae in Nūhaka with her matua kaitiaki,  matua Walton Walker and kōkā Cynthia Sidney, and being at the pōhiri for the new Tairāwhiti Museum director Tapunga Nepe.

Learning from the team at Tairāwhiti Museum has affirmed her idea that exhibitions that are curated with the community where the taonga is from, can happen.

“Being here, especially in the Kākahu exhibition and learning from Kataraina Hoko and Maia Keane about how it’s all connected to whānau, I was just amazed. This is what I always wished to see.”