Mangopare
Eastern maple and milk paint
6.3 x 4.7”
1400.

About Mangopare

Mangopare (hammerhead sharks) are revered in Maori culture for their extraordinary strength and agility as well as an unrelenting determination and fighting spirit, which transcends all other creatures of the ocean, including other shark species. Maori also believed sharks to be protective spirits and shark teeth necklaces were common symbols of superior status among tribal leaders.

The warm, shallow waters around the North Island of New Zealand (where I lived until I emigrated to the U.S. six years ago) are favored breeding grounds for mangopare, as well as pākaurua (stingrays), one of their favorite foods. Mangopare attacks on humans are rare but not unknown.

The carving on this vessel is my adaptation of a traditional design representing mangopare found in kowhaiwhai patterns painted on the rafters of whare tipuna (meeting houses).

 ‘Kia mate mangopare kei mate wheke!’  
(‘Never give up, fight to the end!’)