Te Pūtunga o te Hinu

The oozing of fat - A metaphor for abundance

‘Te Pūtunga o te Hinu’ literally means the oozing of fat. This line is taken from the iconic ancestral lullaby ‘Pōpō’. A Tūranga song about nourishment, succession, and identity.  

If food is a symbol for knowledge, then let the hunger and poverty that exist, be reimagined as the first step toward enlightenment. This work is a response to the human yearning for place, purpose and identity.

Commissioned by Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust, Te Pūtunga o te Hinu is an ode to resilience, disruption and creativity.  
May it ‘flip’ poverty mindsets and awaken the ancestral access to abundance that we all have.

Pōpō is a marvel. A premonitory koha perhaps from kaitito Enoka Te Pakaru who knew that we would need something in the future to rewire our thinking.   It is now, more than ever, a powerful tool kit to save us from our own apathy. A taonga that reflects a world of everlasting possibilities and horizons.  A collection of memories and moments as inspiration to reflect on abundance we have access to today.

We set out to explore abundance by asking our whanaunga to share some of their lived insights.  A window into the perspectives of 12 extraordinary Rongowhakaata uri, then reproduced as a series of digital narratives, as kai for our collective hinengaro.  Each narrative is unique and speaks to a particular theme inside of Pōpō.

These whanaunga are all uri of Rongowhakaata & Tūranga, each who have navigated life by accessing, discovering and leading from the abundance within them. Some live in Tūranga and others don’t.  They all have different horizons, are inspirational leaders and by gathering them together, we get to triumph in their collective spirit.

We are proud of Te Pūtunga o te Hinu and hope that the kōrero inspires more awakenings across our tribal landscape.

Tīhei Mauri Ora.