KUPE SITES - LANDMARKS OF A GREAT VOYAGER, a Te Papa Tongarewa curated exhibition comprising of 36 stunning photographs by photographer Michael Hall, as well as audiovisual material of Iwi representatives talking about the Kupe Sites in Aotearoa, their meanings, significances and histories.

Photographs by Michael Hall - A touring exhibition from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

This exhibition celebrates a great Polynesian voyager's connections with New Zealand. Kupe is regarded by many iwi (tribes) as the ancestor who discovered this country. Kupe Sites explores the stories of Kupe's encounter with New Zealand through names of various landmarks and places and even the name Aotearoa.

Some iwi tell the story of Kupe setting out from his homeland Hawaiki in pursuit of Te Wheke-a-Muturangi, a giant octopus. Others recount how Kupe, in love with his nephew's wife, took her husband fishing, left him out at sea to drown, then fled from the family's vengeance. Whether he was the pursuer or the pursued, Kupe and his stories are of immense importance to the many iwi who trace their whakapapa (genealogy) back through him. While the stories vary, they all celebrate a remarkable voyager who settled a new land and charted a route through the Pacific for later navigators to follow.

Offers visitors a unique encounter with New Zealand's past and reveals the significance of landscape and memory in portraying a key figure in the country's history.

Kupe Sites presents these stories through photographs of places and video recordings of kuia and kaumätua from four areas that have strong traditions of links to Kupe – Northland, Wairarapa, the Wellington region, and the top of the South Island.