Piritahi

Piritahi translates as 'the coming together as one'.

This artwork was inpsired by an event which commemorates the peaceful union of two warring tribes - Nga Puhi and Ngati Paoa. In 1833 the marriage of Nga Puhi chief, Eruera Patuone, and Takarangi (Riria) of Marutuahu/Ngati Paoa lineage consolidated peace between these two tribes. A marae (sacred grounds), is also named Piritahi, which sits in Te Huruhi Bay, near the village of Oneroa on Waiheke Island. This marae not only connects ancestrally to the tribal collective of Ngati Paoa, but it is also a continued testament to that union.