The aim of WAITUHI is to take the festivities and kaupapa of Matariki to a wider audience beyond the traditional arts spaces of the galleries, museums and theatres, to enliven and activate public space with new artwork that acknowledges Māori culture and heritage in the city.
Te Kohinga Whētu
Collecting the Stars
Tēnei mātou e tū nei,
I raro i te korowai o te rangi,
I runga i te aroha o te whenua.
Ka hiki ake te whakaaro ki ngā whetū,
Ka ara ake te wairua ki te ao mārama.
Haumi ē! Hui ē! Tāiki ē!
Here we stand,
Beneath the cloak of the sky,
Held by the love of the earth.
Our thoughts lift to the stars,
Our spirits rise into the world of light.
Together — unified — complete.
This year’s WAITUHI project for the 8-flag poles on the border of Frank Kitts Park near Whairepo Lagoon have been designed by artist, Reuben Paterson (Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāi Tūhoe, Tūhourangi, Scottish).
This will be the tenth year of WAITUHI. Every year, leading up to Matariki, we commission a Māori artist to design work that acknowledges and celebrates Matariki as a time to come together, to reflect and remember, to farewell the past year and welcome in the new, and to honour the cultural heritage of this site at the water’s edge.
On Earth Mother, Papatūānuku, the great forests of Tāne Mahuta stretch skyward toward Ranginui the Sky Father, reaching for the stars. After the separation of the primeval parents, Tāne adorned his father Ranginui with the stars after gathering the sun, the moon, and countless celestial lights - treasures gathered in the basket Te Mangoroa that spilled across the night sky to dance through the endless cosmos filling the universe with their brilliance.
As we now stand upon Papatūānuku, we lift our eyes to the flags of Matariki, woven in the proud colours of Tino Rangatiratanga. These flags are not destinations or markers but pathways and wayfinders — navigational points that lift our gaze beyond, inviting us to reclaim the stars and all that lies upward, outward and beyond. It is an act of empowerment: not to remain beneath the flag, but to rise through it, using it as a guide to ascend toward the heavens and reclaim the space that has always been ours to reach.
The world-bending art of Reuben reaches back to his childhood experiences of the glistening waters and sparkling black sands of Tamaki Makarau's West Coast. His signature use of glitter carries all these memories and the people, presences, and histories to which they connect.
View a gallery of Hemi Macgregor's flags on display in 2024 below.