Tiri: A Response by Dani Kionasina

Tiri opened as an otherworldly portal to integrated timelines. The physical and spiritual were one, the sky and the earth were touching, and all lives were inextricably connected. 

A haunting shadow emerged. As the domineering figure moved closer to the audience, it shrunk and hobbled. A 185-year-old kuia staggering down to greet the mokopuna of her mokopuna materialised. She was tired, but formidable. 

Tiri was an apparition of our collective memory; a skeleton who walked among us. She was Aotearoa’s recent history incarnate as it repeats in real time. The pain of yesterday and the hope of tomorrow spoke through her agonising walk down the blood-laden lane that led us to today. Tiri refused to grant the public the private exoneration of selective amnesia. 

The audience was called to action. Tiri turned our gaze inward and asked us what we wanted for our babies and the whenua they will inherit. She questioned what we were going to do about the current state of affairs - offering us a poignant reminder that we are ALL responsible for how today’s attacks play out. 

Tiri masterfully encapsulated the raging, ongoing battle against colonisation, the political nature of Indigenous lives, and the omnipresence of unceded Māori land, sovereignty, and ngā taonga.