Ben Whitaker, of Owaka, is teaching Maori woodcarving to pupils while he completes his bachelor of Maori carving degree at Te Wananga O Aotearoa in Auckland. He said he was approached to work with the pupils because the school wanted to offer their young Maori pupils a way to identify with a national identity through the wood technology classes. Mr Whitaker believed the secret to whakairo or Maori woodcarving was to ‘‘be like the worm and enter the wood’’. “Today with all the media, young Maori students are looking for ways to provide themselves with a national identity, one they can relate to culturally. ‘‘They are awesome, they are open to ways to find their national identity and develop a more refined cultural understanding about what their identity is and how they are connected with it.’’

Source: Otago Daily Times September 05, 2020 20:15 UTC