“This is our reo. It’s our visual reo. So, you start to build your vocab, your patterns and what they mean, and putting the stories together.”Their paths crossed over twenty years ago through their mutual passion for art and its many forms, including whakairo and tā moko. Today, Mitch Hughes and Dan Ormsby are some of Ngāti Maniapoto’s most well-known ringatoi.
They invited us into their whare where they spoke of their journeys and how te ao toi has become an intrinsic part of who they are.