Paora Puru (Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua)

Wrapping around the exterior of One Queen Street is a light work by Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua artist, Paora Puru. Utilising a lighting system designed by Warren and Mahoney, Puru developed an abstract animation that tells the story of the deity Mataaoho.

Mataaoho is the atua (guardian or deity) of all maunga (volcanoes), caves, aquifers, and lava forms in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. These volcanic features are the result of Te Riri o Mataaoho (‘The Wrath of Mataaoho’) and are commemorated as Ngā Huinga o Mataaoho (‘The Gathered Volcanoes of Mataaoho’).

According to one tradition, Mataaoho lived and resided with his wife in Te Ipu-a-Mataaoho(‘The Bowl of Mataaoho’), which is situated at Maungawhau, the Mt Eden crater. When his wife suddenly left him, leaving him unclothed, exposed, and defenseless, Mataaoho called on his sister, the goddess of fire, Mahuika, to warm and comfort him. Mahuika answered his plea by throwing down her smouldering fires upon the landscape of Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, to warm him, forming Ngā Huinga o Mataaoho (‘The Gathered Volcanoes of Mataaoho’).

It has been said that this significant event created and formed the many maunga (volcanoes) that rose up from under the ground and now adorn and shelter the Auckland isthmus and the wider Tāmaki Makaurau landscape.

Puru has stated, “This digital cultural artwork will welcome all people under the generosity, protection, and shelter of the various maunga (volcanoes) that stand resolute and everlasting within the Auckland isthmus.”

“Ngā Huinga o Mataaoho, tū te ao, tū te pō.” “The Gathered Volcanoes of Mataaoho stand permanently day and night.”

For Matariki, Puru has designed a new lighting sequence ‘Te Kāhui o Matariki’ ‘The Constellation of Matariki’. See a link in the bio. This will run for the month of Matariki. We were thrilled to attend a dawn Matariki celebration with Precinct to launch this new mahi. 

One Queen Street, the Deloitte Centre, is a Precinct Properties development with architecture by Warren & Mahoney, interior design by Technē, and home to the luxury InterContinental Hotel. The One Queen Street kaupapa includes commissioned works by our four mana whenua design partners alongside works by leading contemporary artists from Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Australia.