Acrylic on printed paper A4 (ĀTĀROA exhibition text). The Ngāpuhi proverb ‘Ngāpuhi- kōwhao -rau’ expresses hapū autonomy, with each of the hundred holes or kōwhao of a fishing net representing each hapū and the whole net the Ngāpuhi proverbial saying. The drawings Ngāpuhi ko whao rau III, IV-VII have been deliberately placed over text from my recent show ĀTĀROA inside Whetū Mārama at Kupe Waka Centre, Te Aurere. In Ngāpuhi ko whao rau III this metaphor is treated as a palimpsest with layers of imagery opened up through a series of circles. The other images make illusions to the building up of a mesh-like form (IV) and to the importance of the tuna and Papahurihia’s vision of ngā tuna 'eels' emerging from many holes prior to the battle of Ruapekapeka 1985/1846.