Te Waka Whaka Hou The Canoe of the Rebuild

Title of artwork: Te Waka Whaka Hou The Canoe of the Rebuild 

Artist: Riki Manuel 

Date: 2013 

Category of work: sculpture 

Media: salvaged wood and other demolition materials 

Where you can see it: Boys’ High Building first floor, at the top of the main stairs, on the landing between Indigo & Provisions and the Tiny Toy Shop.  

Thanks to: the artist, Gap Filler, Todd Foundation 

Artist Riki Manuel (Ngāti Porou) has a long association with Te Matatiki Toi Ora The Arts Centre, dating back to 1985. Riki ran a carving studio on site until the buildings closed due to earthquake damage in 2011 – a tenancy of over 25 years.  

Riki is a tohunga whakairo and tā moko artist who studied at the famed NZ Māori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua under master carver Hōne Taiapa in the late 1970s.  

Riki created Te Waka Whaka Hou The Canoe of the Rebuild for a Gap Filler project in 2012, funded by the Todd Foundation. At that time a group of local Māori and Pasifika artists formed Arts Waka; they created and presented artworks in Market Square (The Arts Centre).  

Made from the city’s earthquake rubble and demolition material, this waka symbolises the people of Ōtautahi moving forward from the damage caused by Ruāmoko (atua/god of earthquakes and volcanoes) in the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010-11.  

The stern (rear) of the waka reveals the violence of the quakes – a broken verandah post highlighting the immense force involved. In contrast, two beautiful carvings at the prow suggest the challenges of facing the future together.   

The Arts Centre is immensely grateful to Riki for gifting this work to the people of Ōtautahi Christchurch.