Development-the-Movie

Koka Keri is a cultural icon in the Tairawhiti and beyond. These days she is either passing through the Gisborne airport on her way to a Unesco conference, a board meeting at the Tairawhiti Museum or to any number of official engagements and arts business, or she is heading back to Rangitukia to teach te reo to the Te Wananga o Raukawa Hinerupe Marae Based Studies students.

She is also part of Te Ururangi o Te Matauranga, the Doorway to Knowledge, travelling everywhere, one week in Tolaga Bay, another in Hicks Bay, wherever it suits a marae to host the wananga and do the catering. She is certainly always incredibly busy. On occasion, Koka Keri has also been known to leave town for some quiet time at an undisclosed location where she takes the time out to write.

Koka Keri resides in Rangitukia on land belonging to the Kaa family, as keeper of the home fires — ahi kaa. Her home reflects the life time of creativity she has experienced in a family such as hers that was raised with poetry, books, challenging and stimulating conversation held in two languages. Two of her brothers include the notable actor Wi Kuki Kaa and the respected Dr Reverend Hone Kaa. Koka Keri’s sister Arapera Blank was also an award winning writer and poet. There are beautiful paintings on the walls, stunning photos of her family... the house is an artwork in itself and reflects her interests and life.

Koka Keri’s experiences cover an extensive range, from her involvement with Te-Ika-a-Maui-Players in the seventies. This group was led by legendary Maori film director/opera singer and actor Don Selwyn and performed works by Maori writers such as Rowley Habib.

1986 represents one of the eight years that Koka Keri was a panel member of the NZ Short Film Fund. She recalls "an applicant named Peter Jackson who wanted to make a wee splatter movie".

In 1987 Koka Keri was a guest tutor at Dance 87 held at Wellington College where she presented a workshop on Haka. It was there she became involved with Cross Cultural Teaching Programmes, Maori Studies,Physical Education, Dance, Drama and the Music Departments. In this environment Koka Keri developed working relationships with choreographers like Jan Bolwell, Gaylene Sciascia, Jamie Bull, Sue Jordan and Mary Jane O’Reilly.

For the decade to follow she worked with Maori Arts and Creative New Zealand assessing projects and being a full time Kaumatua with Anaru Paenga.

As a member of Haeata, Koka Keri was involved in producing the 1985 Herstory Diary featuring Maori women, and in 1986 Haeata curated Karanga Karanga a massive exhibition of contemporary Maori women artists at the Wellington City Gallery. Running concurrently to this was an exhibition led by Joelene Douglas in Gisborne also called Karanga Karanga. Haeata provided support for Maori women artists such as Robyn Kahukiwa, Shona Rapira Davies, Kura Te Waru Rewiri, and writers Patricia Grace and Keri Hulme. During that period, the group had to devise its own ceremonies, something which is now commonplace.

Since her move home to Rangitukia, Koka Keri’s involvement has been more at a committee level. Koka Keri spent five years on the Board of Te Waka Toi at Creative New Zealand, and is currently involved as a project assessor. She takes on work as a freelance translator and writer and has worked as a theatre reviewer for the Evening Post. She writes poetry, children’s stories in both English and Maori, and is currently writing a book on kapa haka competitions.

From Tairawhiti Arts: Keri Kaa