Kimiora Akama

My dad told me a story about how English back then was a must for our education.  This story tells us that Maori is still our mother tongue, and we still need to learn it.  If we do not know how to speak Maori the future generations will not know who they really are.

~BACK THEN WHEN ENGLISH WAS A MUST~

My father had told me a story about how English back then in Pukapuka was a must for our education. It was hard for him to learn English, because he was pretty much brought up learning Maori. When he moved to Rarotonga his aunties and uncles encouraged and slowly educated him in how to speak English. But not so long after that my father could speak English fluently with the help of his aunties and uncles. He was also telling us about how Maori is also good to learn, because it is our mother tongue.

We need to learn our language, because if we don’t know how to speak Maori how is our future generation going to know who they really are?

 

My art represents my family in a picture of a wave and a traditional flower, this represents how my family comes together every holiday and always goes to the beach for a swim.

First two patterns on the outside shows my culture, Atiu and Pukapuka, and the patterns on the inside represents my parents and my siblings. The flower above represents myself as the left top petal shows where I grew up which is in New Zealand, the petal below that represents how much I love to swim. The petal on the top right represents how much I love to do art and sketch. The one just beneath that shows how many people are in my family.