Munich Jewellery Week

Sofia Tekela-Smith, Installation view of Riffing off Brown Eyes Blue, (detail), 2022. Photographer Sam Hartnett, courtesy of Objectspace

Event duration: 12.03.2025, 15:00-17:00

As part of Munich Jewellery Week, KOHĀ is an activation led by Aotearoa New Zealand adornment practitioners Neke Moa, Sofia Tekela-Smith and Stevei Houkāmau.

Koha is a vital concept in te ao Māori (the Māori world). It references the act of offering a gift or contribution as an expression of gratitude. Koha exists in both formal ceremony and everyday life.

Tungia Symonds-Kaihau (Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto) introduced an idea around the notion of koha by adding a macron over the ‘a’ to emphasise the second syllable hā. This addition extends the understanding of kohā to be a celebration of life and relationships within it, as ‘hā’ means the breath or essence of life.

Within this activation, kohā is interpreted as a reciprocal exchange acknowledging the relationships between cultural adornment, their makers and their wearers.

At Museum Fünf Kontinente, Moa, Tekela-Smith and Houkāmau will respond to the items in the museum’s collection, before inviting those in attendance to engage in the process of kohā by exchanging and deepening an understanding of taonga and adornment practice through their own offerings of words, songs or small treasures.

Encompassing notions of reciprocity and connection, this ceremony will reflect the relational balance between materials, process, body and others in adornment making.

Supported by Creative New Zealand, Objectspace and Current Obsession

Neke Moa, Tokerau, 2023. Photographer Sam Hartnett, courtesy of Objectspace

The practice of Neke Moa (Whare ā Papaīra, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Ahuriri, Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) seeks to promote hauora (wellness) by deepening connections between tāngata, tohunga and atua (people, knowledge keepers and Gods). Her work centres on adornment and object-making, drawing heavily on materials found in the taiao (natural environment) and on customary and contemporary processes.

Stevei Houkāmau (Ngati Porou, Te Whanau a Apanui, Rangitane) is an uku (clay) artist based in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her focus on uku stems from its ability to evoke ancestral and spiritual connections to the whenua (land). Her work explores the relationship between tāngata, tīpuna and whenua (people, ancestors and land) reflecting the vital relationship tangata whenua (Indigenous people of Aotearoa) hold with the environment.

Sofia Tekela-Smith is a maker of jewellery and objects of body adornment. Using materials that reclaim and strengthen cultural ties to her Rotuman heritage, she creates work that reflects and communicates a visual language of harmony, beauty, strength and spirit.

@objectspace
@nekemoa
@ukumad
@duskifrompepjei

objectspace.org.nz

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KOHĀ Ceremony

Activation, Performance