Tehani Buchanan

Ko wai koe?
I thought I was still a rangatahi but apparently I'm not lol. My name is Tehani Ngapare Rau-Te-Tara Buchanan from the islands of Aitutaki, Rarotonga and Mitiaro with a bit of Scottish thrown in—30ish. I’m a multi-disciplinary creative, māmā of three, educator, public servant, INFJ, Aquarius, and green thumb in progress. Tehani is an old Tahitian name for Leilani. My dad found that name in a book and said I was the first Tehani in the Cook Islands. Ngapare is my paternal great-grandmother. My dad says this is where the Buchanan’s get their height from. Rau-Te-Tara is the name of my mother’s whāngai mother, Tungane Rau-Te-Tara. She was an incredible seamstress and although they weren’t money rich, she always looked rich in her custom creations. I like to think I'm a modern blend of these two tūpuna I never got to meet. Tall, creative and straight up!

What are your pronouns?
she/her/ia

Where are you living right now?
Parirua, Te Whanganui-a-Tara on Ngāti Toa whenua

What do you do and why do you do it?
My primary kaupapa which has carried through everything I have done in my life is the active decolonisation and indigenising of my mind and ao. I work in Māori health policy and before that, I was a kaiako reo Māori for 10 years in kura auraki (mainstream school). I care about systemic and constitutional change that enables Māori and iwi taketake (indigenous peoples) self-determination. Creating allows me to explore and interrogate my own identity. I really believe the re-indigenisation of our world will solve many of our problems. 

What are you working on at the moment?
Right now I'm working on my curatorial exhibition in collaboration with Enjoy. I had this idea a couple of years ago for a tīvaevae exhibition in Begonia House as the tropical flora always reminded me of my island home, Rarotonga. For the last year, I've been learning tīvaevae with a group of mamas (elder Cook Islands women) in Porirua. They helped me repair my great-grandmother's tīvaevae which I exhibited at Enjoy last year. The exhibition I'm working on is named after them, Tīpurepure Au Va'ine to mean 'colourful women' and is a tuku aroha (gift of love) to them. It'll feature 10 of their tīvaevae amongst the foliage of Begonia with an accompanying soundscape by artist, Jamie Berry.

What do you love about art?
We were always meant to create. Art enables me to be a human-[in]-being. I don't create to make money or for public consumption really but I appreciate that my people believe and love what I do share with the world. 

What are you reading/listening to/watching at the moment?
Ok so nothing profound but MAFS Australia has me in a chokehold at the moment. I love judging and therapising all the couples (mainly the men) from my bed. It makes me realise I'm in a pretty good relationship haha.

Who is your art crush?
A couple years ago I started this random IG art account (@moanamode lol) for the purpose of elevating indigenous creatives of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. One of my first posts was spotlighting Telly Tuita's work. I was obsessed with his "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" inspired portraiture series and his use of colour in his works and first saw his work in person at Bergman Gallery in Rarotonga. I was sooooo excited when Jamie Berry invited him to my partner's house party last year and I met him. We've been friends since and he's just as vibrant as his paintings!

If you had one wish for the art world what would it be?
I'm not really in the "art world" but no doubt there's institutionalised racism so let's start there.