Rationale

A very common feeling toward Te Reo Māori is fear of mispronunciation/ being corrected or infringing on what isn’t there’s/ not wanting to risk stepping over tapu (sacred) lines. Where I sympathise and understand, if this continues the everydayness of Te Reo Māori and our culture will dissipate. People need to start refraining from correcting people in an all-knowing manner and celebrate effort. Furthermore, Te Reo Māori is an Official language of New Zealand and therefore belongs to all New Zealanders so there is no line to cross when speaking the Reo, if anything it’s disrespectful to not speak Maori.

The viewer is confronted with very dark images related to Māori culture through the contemporary take on traditional cultural imagery which gives the initial connection of Māori culture and an additional feeling of fear. Both posters are a visual depiction of what New Zealanders feel when they challenge the idea of saying a Māori word.

The wehi for both of my posters is fear, the personal fear of mispronunciation and the fear of losing our language. The first poster demostrates this through a common fear of the dark and the grim reaper (personification of death). The second poster shows this through the use of koru patterns on the skull to represent moko, so the ‘maori skull’ is a personification of the death of the language, along side the blood spill.

The poster directs the viewer to the Maori language week website with the text “be strong, speak Māori”, which after the heavy imagery makes them feel they want to make change.