10 October 2021

Weaving with Aroha

Ringatoi Ahuwhenua. Rural Creative.

writer: KIRI RIWAI-COUCH (NGĀTI HINE, NGĀ PUHI, NGAI TE RANGI)

photographer: ABBE HOARE

Based in the Wairarapa, Manaia Carswell is a māmā, a wahine of Ngapuhi and Ngāti Hine descent, and a weaver. Over the past few years, she has studied with the prestigious Hetet School of Māori Art focusing on the traditional Māori practice of raranga. This journey has strengthened her connections with her whānau,her whakapapa and her Māoritanga. Today, her work with harakeke brings purpose and positivity to her life that she can’t imagine being without.

There’s a fresh bundle of cut harakeke, still wet from the morning rain, on the covered deck of Manaia’s home. She inspects the long, glossy leaves with her weaver’s eye. “I remember when I was young,” she says, “just going and cutting heaps of flax and putting it all together and thinking, ‘How come it doesn’t look right?’ Of course, I didn’t know what I was doing as there weren’t really opportunities to do raranga then. It was just me doing it myself. As a kid, I kind of just knew that something special could be made from harakeke, a taonga.” This childhood feeling would become a foretelling. In 2016, not long after Manaia’s mum passed away, she began her journey with raranga. “When Mum passed, I felt like I had lost my connection to te ao Māori and I realised I really needed that,” she explains. “Afterwards, I happened to see a post come up on Facebook on how to weave taniko. I was whakamā about not knowing much te reo and not having my mum to help me, but it was an online course and I thought, ‘Oh yeah, I can do this!’

Manaia's home lies near the Waingawa River on the upper plains of Masterston's eastern outskirts. She met her husband Rex when she was seventeen and they live on a lifestyle block with their three daughters, Awatea, Aurora, and Hana. The family all support Manaia's passion for weaving - even if they have to go without a bathtub for a while. "No one could have a bath for bit," says Manaia, laughing. "I used the bathroom to store my prepared harakeke for a while, as it couldn't get wet, so I had flax in the bathtub and hanging up everywhere. Rex ended up making us an outdoor bath under the stars and now he's lined out a shipping container for all my harakeke storage."

The Hetet School of Māori Art offers an array of courses in te ao Māori to students all over the world. Manaia's affinity for creativity and art had finally found a perfect home. "I grew up on stories of how my grandmother and her kids used to sit around doing crochet. They'd all do a square each and by the end of the week they would have a beautiful blanket," Manaia recalls. "My grandmother taught my older sister how to crochet and then my sister taught me. I would sit in class when I was young and do my crochet while the other kids were doing their silent reading. I've always been crafty. I used to make soaps at home and Rex would come over and see what I was doing and he'd be like, 'I want to do that too!' Then he would push me out of the way so he could have a go. He'll hāpene if I need him to or if I can't harvest for whatever reason, he'll do that for me too."

Excerpt from the Spring 2021 Edition of Shepherdess.