Mate Tipu, Mate Rākau

Fiona Apanui-Kupenga & Graeme Atkins

Fiona Apanui-Kupenga
Ngati Porou

Graeme Atkins
Ngati Porou,
Rongomaiwahine

Mate Tipu, Mate Rākau follows Department of Conservation Ranger Graeme Atkins (Ngāti Porou, Rongomaiwahine), as he reveals the rapid devastation that the airborne fungal pathogen myrtle rust is having on the East Coast. This documentary lays bare the distress and urgency felt by environmental kaitiaki in Aotearoa, as myrtle rust (Austropuccinia psidii) compounds an already precarious situation for threatened native species.

The 9-minute documentary, produced and directed by videographer Fiona Apanui-Kupenga (Ngāti Porou) and her team at Te Amokura Productions, is one of the first creative projects commissioned by Toi Taiao Whakatairanga, a cross-disciplinary collaborative research project funded by the National Science Challenge/Ngā Rakau Taketake. The project integrates practices from the arts, science, and te ao Māori to raise awareness of biological threats to New Zealand’s ngahere, and wider ecological systems.

Mate Tipu, Mate Rakau (2021)

Fiona Apanui-Kupenga (Ngati Porou) is the founder, producer and director of Te Amokura Productions. For eight years she has been making video work around Māori success on the global stage, confront domestic violence and sexual abuse to exploring our taiao. “Maori stories, our talent, our triumphs and skills are what drive me to make programmes.”

Graeme Atkins (Ngati Porou, Rongomaiwahine) is a former Department of Conservation Ranger for the Raukumara Ranges and East Coast of the North Island. He is a celebrated kaitiaki or guardian of protected and rare species. He blogs on Indigenous species via the Facebook group East Coast Botanicals (?)

Art
Kelly Kahukiwa Te Mauri tū, te Mauri ora