Photos courtesy of Quiksilver.

TAI KEHU is the second Quiksilver collection of pro surfer Kehu Butler guided by Aotearoa’s tā moko artists Maia Gibbs and Henare Brooking of Toi Ake Maori Art Gallery in Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa (Gisborne). 

The name of the collection TAI KEHU, translates to the ocean and coastlines of Aotearoa, to Kehu himself, and the ancestry ‘whakapapa’ that his name holds. The collection represents the culmination of six core pillars steeped in tikanga Māori, encapsulating patterns intricately inspired by the rich cultural history that spans across Aotearoa. We spoke to Maia Gibbs about what this collaboration means for him as an artist and the wider Māori community.

How long have you been producing art in one way or another? 

Shit, since forever. Very similar to Henare, both our fathers and our uncles are well established artists in our world in Aotearoa. We have been brought up in and around art all of our lives, it is kind of all we know. We were born into it. 

Do you learn tā moko through a certain process or is it passed down?

It varies from artist to artist. For us, again, we're privileged in the fact that we were brought up around it. In saying that, there are definitely formal ways to do it with different learning institutions. So, yeah, it's a bit of both, if that makes sense. But for us in particular, we're lucky that we're brought up around it, and our whānau (family) and our mentors have had a huge impact on us from a very young age.

Is there a particular style within your family that is distinctive from other tā moko artists? 

There are artistic styles that have been passed down to us through our learning process and there are styles that align to the region that we're from. That goes back to a whole lot of learning institutions that were established way before colonisation, way back hundreds of years ago, knowledge and visual style has been passed down yeah.

And how does the process of tā moko work? 

The biggest thing to acknowledge is tā moko is not a tattoo. Tā moko has its own genealogy as an art form and comes from the environment around us, and our connection to our environment. It is a part of us. 

When it comes to the process what usually happens is that someone will come in and talk about who they are, their genealogy, and what they want to represent within the design and we draw that pattern. Once each side is happy then we begin the karakia process and begin the tā moko. 

Okay, and what is the karakia sorry? 

Karakia? Oh it is like a prayer and then we begin the application on the skin.

Oh yes okay. And I know tā moko is just one form of Māori art, with others including weaving raranga (weaving), whakairo (carving) or peitatanga (painting) - do the patterns and motifs carry the same meaning across each form? 

There are motifs that transition across all Māori art so some are similar yes but each art form has its own genealogy, its own whakapapa (ancestry), and its own mana as well. So each is similar but different as well. 

Is it normal for someone to just specialise in one form? 

We tend to specialise in a particular form yeah, but with that being said, some of our mentors and some of our really good friends have the ability to move across a lot of art forms. For example, Henare’s dad and a few of our uncles are very, very good carvers. They can carve wood, stone and bone, andhen transition to skin and tā moko, then they're also really, really good painters as well. Some of us have been able to demonstrate ourselves quite solidly in each of those forms as well. 

Do you have a favourite motif or pattern that you like to do? Or is it just always specific to everyone’s genealogy?

It is specific to everyone’s genealogy but I do enjoy doing kaupapa that are related to the moana (ocean). From where we are on the East Coast we are by the sea. We are in it every day, surfing, diving, swimming so when that kind of kaupapa come through wanting to represent their connection to the ocean those are really fun for us because we know it pretty intimately. 

That was actually one of my questions, what does the ocean mean to you? 

It means everything. It’s probably easier to find what doesn’t it mean. We come from the ocean, we are in it every day. It is a part of us. 

Were you all friends before this collection with Quiksilver? 

Well Henare and I have known each other for a very long time. He's pretty much like an older brother to me, so we already have a really strong relationship. We knew Kehu and his whānau and remember him as a little kid. We got linked up through another relation of ours, Daniel Procter, who is a really good longboarder. He picked up on Kehu and his family wanting to do this so that’s how we all got connected. 

The first thing that we did, before any kind of contractual agreement with Quik was to drive over to Tauranga where Kehu’s family are from, spend time with them and create a really solid relationship with them. We worked out what they wanted to achieve and what they wanted us to do and it created this really cool bond between us and Kehu’s family which has really allowed this collaboration to go as far as it has. I don’t think it would have gone the way it has if we didn’t have that initial meeting with the family. But they’re like us, they move the same as us, they talk the same as us. We’re family. 

And how does it feel to have your art represent the Māori culture through this collection? 

I mean, yeah, it's cool but for us we are really just the pencils for Kehu and his whānau. We really love that. Our job is to make sure Kehu and his whānau are happy with the way it is going. The other part of it is that we stand on the shoulders of people who have done amazing work and allowed us to be here. We’re just small cog in a really big family of creative people that have come from where we come from. It is special to see our designs out there doing really cool things but we understand the privilege and know there have been many people who have given us opportunities to be able to do this. It is really humbling at the same time. 

Yeah, that is a beautiful response. Is there anything else you would like to speak to or expand on within the collection?

I guess the only other thing is that Kehu and his family are of the same thought of us and probably one of the reasons why we committed to this is that in our kōrero, or traditional story, we have a long culture of surfing and wave riding whether that is in a waka (canoe), or on a traditional surfboard. It is apart of the Māori culture. But whenever we went into a surf shop to try and buy some boardies, we never saw ourselves. Just tall, skinny white Australians. And that isn’t us. We don’t look like that or talk like that or move like that. Yet we have this connection to the ocean that is in all our of stories and our genealogy and apart of who we are. So to have the opportunity to see our own people, our own faces in those spaces is something special. And hopefully the next generation of young Māori girls and boys can see themselves and want to be like Kehu.  They want to take on the world and the water in their own way. 

Shop the collection here