Te Kooti Series

The Te Kooti Series.

Many Māori movements adopted distinctive flags. This is Te Kooti’s war flag. The meaning of the symbols on it has been much debated. The letters ‘WI’ probably stood for the Holy Spirit, Wairua Tapu. The crescent moon was a tohu (portent) of a new world; the red cross was the fighting cross of the Archangel Michael, who appeared to Te Kooti in a vision in the 1850s. The moon and cross reiterate the first two elements of Te Wepu, a flag which Te Kooti captured from Ngāti Kahungunu in 1868.

It was subsequently captured from Te Kooti by Captain Gilbert Mair in 1870. Mair gifted it to Whanganui museum, which cut it up for use as dusters!This flag has particular significance to me as my iwi. Te Aitanga a Mahaki have a connection to Te Kooti through the Ringatu religion, and our home marae, Tapuihikatea, was built as one of four to further his teachings and welcome him back to Te Tai Rawhiti after his pardon.I am undertaking a series of works based on his imagery and images that I associate with his teachings and ideals and the universal nature of many of these images across cultures.

The Equal armed CrossEqual-Armed Cross, also referred to as the square cross, the balanced cross, and the peaceful cross, is a name for the Greek Cross when this is found in ancient cultures, predating Christianity.It is another universal symbol, which can be found in every culture with a knowledge of the passage of time.One of the simplest symbols, it represents several things to different cultures.The cross  was a symbol to the ancient Celts  representing the meeting place of the Divine energies (at the cross-section).In ancient Greece, the cross was an emblem of the four elements.To the Hopi Indians it is referred to as the “cosmic cross” with the four bars representing north, south, east & west correspond to the outermost points on the horizon where the sun passes through the yearIn the ancient Middle East, the symbol also represents the four directions (north, south, east, west) and the four winds.The cross is in this case actuality two separate signs-The vertical line symbolizes the path from earth to heaven and the realm of spirit.The horizontal axis, represents the path from birth to death, beginning to end, and linear time.

Primarily, the cross embodies the concept of unification between ethereal and material.