Ko te whenua ko au, ko au ko te whenua

Centring on New Zealand painting from the late 18th century to today, The Fletcher Trust Collection offers a rich resource for learning and inspiration. This unit introduces ākonga to artworks created in and reflecting Aotearoa New Zealand, offering deeper insight into the pieces, the artists behind them, and their broader cultural, historical, and thematic contexts.

Designed for ākonga in Years 11–13 (Curriculum Levels 5–8), the unit explores the theme of Ko te whenua ko au, ko au ko te whenua, a whakataukī which can be translated as: I am the land, and the land is me. Exploring three artworks from the Collection, this unit considers how artists from the 1980s through to today have expressed ideas about the ongoing effects of colonisation, particularly in relation to Māori land rights. Students will engage in observation, discussion, critical thinking, and art-making to explore how these complex topics are represented in paintings by Shane Cotton, Robert Ellis and Robyn Kahukiwa.

While primarily aligned with the Visual Arts learning area, this resource also supports learning in the Art History and the Social Sciences, demonstrating how art can be a powerful cross-curricular tool. It has been designed as an adaptable toolkit, allowing teachers to select and customise materials to suit their classroom needs. Key sections are structured to be easily extractable as handouts for direct student use.