Tame Iti Leads Hundreds to Waitangi in Art Performance March

Participants carried white flags across the Waitangi Treaty Grounds for Aotearoa New Zealand's national commemoration of its founding document.

A powerful performance by Tūhoe Māori artist and activist Tame Iti took place ahead of Waitangi Day in Aotearoa New Zealand on 5 February.

Joined by hundreds from around the country who responded to his call on social media, Iti led a hīkoi [walk or march] to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, where Aotearoa's founding document, Te Tiriti O Waitangi [Treaty of Waitangi], was signed on 6 February 1840.

The walk to the grounds was slow and peaceful, accompanied by chanting, a soundscape, and a bell tolling at intervals. Participants dressed in black or white and carried tall, white flags, signalling blank slates, and raised them in the air upon arrival at Te Whare Rūnanga, the meeting house at Waitangi's upper grounds.

Tame Iti's grandson, Te Rangi Moaho Iti, explained the significance of the white flags to Radio New Zealand, saying 'We call it a Haki Ātea. The ātea comes from the separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku, and when they separated there was an ātea, a blank canvas, and so that is what the white flag represents—a blank canvas to find new ways to move forward, to start again.'

Tame Iti also unveiled a new sculpture titled Ngā Tamatoa (2024), after the activist group Ngā Tamatoa (The Warriors) of which Iti was a key member. Active through the 1970s, the group promoted Māori rights.

Iti gifted to Waitangi and Ngāpuhi, the iwi (tribe) of the region.—[O]