Dr Catherine Smith’s research interests centre around material culture, in particular the interdisciplinary analysis of early Māori textiles, and developing innovation in their provenancing, materials investigation, and preservation. Catherine is interested in the relationship between people, plants and culture change in Aotearoa and how study of Māori textiles can reveal those interactions. This research often takes place in museum collections in collaboration with communities and weaving practitioners.  She was co-PI (with Associate Professor Donna Campbell and Mrs Ranui Ngarimu) of a Te Apārangi Royal Society of New Zealand project ‘Whakaarahia anō te rā kaihau!

‍

Raise up again the billowing sail! Revitalising cultural knowledge through analysis of Te Rā, the Māori sail’. This project recovered knowledge about Te Rā, the only remaining early Māori sail (c1800) by bringing together Māori weaving practitioners and materials science approaches to explore the intersections between Mātauranga Māori and Western science. Her presentation will discuss the project, and the exhibition of Te Rā at Te Puna o Waiwhetū Christchurch Art Gallery in 2023.

‍

This lecture on Te Rā is organised by Gladys Henderson and Kristen O'Sullivan Peren, following Catherine 's offer; attendees require no materials, just interest in Māori textile traditions.

‍