Te Whana Series
Te Whana - Rebel Riders presents Māori figures on horseback in profile — a form that echoes the painted meetinghouse figures raised under the prophet Te Kooti in the late 19th century. Begun immediately after Cyclone Gabrielle, the series takes its title from te whana: to rebel, to kick back, to refuse restraint.
The rebellion, though, is a deliberate inversion. Searching archival records, Rakai kept finding the same museum label attached to captured flags: "rebel flag" — misnaming what were often Rongopai, flags of peace. That misreading became the series' premise: an army of riders carrying not guns but gardening tools — kō and timo — riders who come to rebuild, re-establish, regenerate, rather than fight.
