Toi Te Mana

About the Author

Ngarino Ellis (Ngapuhi, Ngati Porou) is an associate professor in art history at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland. Her monograph A Whakapapa of Tradition: 100 Years of Ngati Porou Carving, 1830-1930 (Auckland University Press, 2016) won several awards including the Judith Binney Best First Book at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and Best Maori Art Book at the Nga Kupu Ora Awards: Celebrating Maori Books and Journalism, 2017. She co-edited Te Puna: Maori Art from Te Tai Tokerau / Northland (Reed, 2007) with Deidre Brown, and Te Ata: Maori Art from the East Coast, New Zealand (Reed, 2002) with Witi Ihimaera. Ngarino has also collaborated as a curator, including Whakawhanaungatanga: Connecting People and Taonga (Linden Museum, Stuttgart, 2022-24) with Dougal Austin, Awhina Tamarapa and Justine Treadwell, and Purangiaho: Seeing Clearly (Auckland Art Gallery, 2001) with Ngahiraka Mason and Kahutoi Te Kanawa. She has published on many aspects of Maori art history including moko, adornment, art crime and gender.

Deidre Brown (Ngapuhi, Ngati Kahu) is a Maori art and architectural historian and professor of architecture at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland. Her books include Maori Architecture: From Fale to Wharenui and Beyond (Raupo, 2009; Nga Kupu Ora award winner and New Zealand Post Book Awards finalist), Introducing Maori Art (Reed, 2005), Tai Tokerau Whakairo Rakau: Northland Maori Wood Carving (Reed, 2003; NZSA Best First Book at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards), Te Puna: Maori Art from Te Tai Tokerau / Northland (Reed, 2007) with Ngarino Ellis, the multi-authored Art in Oceania: A New History (Thames & Hudson, 2012; Art Book Prize for best English language art book) and A New Zealand Book of Beasts: Animals in Our Culture, History and Everyday Life (Auckland University Press, 2013). She has curated several exhibitions and is a former Governor of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand. Deidre is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi and a 2023 Te Kahui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects Gold Medallist - the Institute's highest award.

Jonathan Mane-Wheoki CNZM (1943-2014; Ngapuhi, Te Aupouri, Ngati Kuri) was an art historian specialising in Maori, New Zealand and European art. His academic career began at the University of Canterbury and included serving as Dean of Music and Fine Arts. In 2004, he became the Director of Art and Collection Services at Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand. Five years later, he was appointed Professor and Head of the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland. Notable service roles included being a Governor of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand and member of Te Waka Toi, the Arts Council of Creative New Zealand, International Council of the Centre Culturel Jean-Marie Tjibaou and the Marsden Fund Council. Jonathan received an honorary LittD from the University of Canterbury in 2008 and the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi's Pou Aronui Award in 2012 and was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2014 for services to the arts.