Weaver Ezra Bevan is a descendant of Te Rangitopeora, one of the distinguished rangatira from Kāpiti who are central to the new exhibition Land, Women and Rangatiratanga, on now at Toi MAHARA.
The exhibition showcases historic taonga belonging to Te Rangitopeora and Kahe Te Rau o te Rangi who both signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi to affirm their authority over the land.
For the exhibition, Ezra is showing a section of tāniko inspired by the kaitaka (cloak) worn by his tūpuna (ancestor) in paintings from the 1800s. Visitors to the exhibition can admire the painting and the tāniko side by side.
Not content with stopping here, Ezra continued to observe taonga of his tūpuna including kaitaka, portraits and photographs. The differences he noticed in the designs across these different media inspired him to begin creating his own kaitaka.
“Growing up I was always drawn to the kaitaka worn by Te Rangitopeora in her portrait and have been fascinated by the diamond motifs ever since which eventually lead me to create my first tauira piece currently on display. I’ve repeated the same section in the kaitaka I’m weaving now to acknowledge the tauira piece which originally gave me the skills and enthusiasm to want to undertake the mammoth task of creating a full kaitaka.”
It is not a small undertaking. Ezra has been working on the tāniko which will border the kaitaka for the last two years. He began by preparing the muka (flax thread) which was sourced from a homestead in Ōtaki. These very fine flax threads would form the whenu (warp) of the weaving.
“The practice of using the finer threads for the whenu is less common nowadays but to me it represents how our ancestors wove.”
To an outsider, the weaving may not look ‘traditional.’ Ezra may have used embroidery thread in a diverse range of colours for the aho (weave) but he has stuck very closely to the way weaving was done in the past.
“Our ancestors’ tāniko is a little different to what is mostly seen today, the most obvious difference to me is the pattern being reflected at the back with no pixelation, most modern tāniko when looking at the back is pixelated so the pattern seen at the front isn’t the same at the back. It’s important to me to lean into the way our tūpuna worked.”
Many weavers create a design on paper before they start weaving. He says, “For the first time, I’m not using graph paper to work out the pattern but letting the design evolve including any mistakes that happen along the way!”
Once completed Ezra plans to add muka to lengthen the whenu of the tāniko border in order to complete the kaupapa (body) of the kaitaka (cloak) which will showcase the tāniko.
Alongside his art practice, Ezra is a tutor at Te Wananga o Raukawa. He will be doing weaving demonstrations at the gallery with other tutors and artists associated with the show over the next few months. View our events page for dates and times.