Rangi Te Kanawa and Dr Karyne Rogers viewing a cloak in Te Whare Pora, Te Papa’s weaving store.  Source: Te Papa

Clare Regnault, Annual Costume & Textile symposium: registrations open, Te Papa, 5 April 2016

The Costume & Textile Association of New Zealand has just opened registrations for its symposium which is taking place at Massey University, Wellington on 7- 8 July. The year’s theme, Nature Now, provides the opportunity to explore historical, contemporary and even future connections between nature, dress and textiles. The symposium is open to members and non-members alike. Held annually, it attracts an enthusiastic community of researchers, conservators, historians, collectors, wearers and makers, linked by a love of the rich world dress and textiles.

Keynote addresses

We are thrilled that Rangi Te Kanawa, one of Te Papa’s textile conservators, and Dr Karyne Rogers from GNS Science, have been invited to present a keynote address. In November 2015, Rangi and Karyne were awarded a prestigious 3-year research grant from the Marsden Fund, which ‘supports excellence in science, engineering, maths, social sciences and the humanities’ through grants for investigator-initiated research.

Combining their skill sets, Rangi and Karyne are using environmental science, including geochemical fingerprinting, social science and indigenous heritage studies as forensic tools to reveal the origins of unprovenanced Māori cloaks. Their aim is to reconnect these cloaks with place and people. The project is aptly entitled ‘Track the Black: the whakapapa of paru’.