About the artist
Diggeress Te Kanawa
Ngaati Maniapoto, Ngaati Kinohaku
Dr Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa, CNZM, QSO (b.1920 d.2009) joined the Kāhui Whiritoi in 2006 and was a renowned Meaning Expert weaver and daughter of New Zealand's most distinguished traditional weaver, Dame Rangimarie Hetet. The teaching of Meaning Traditional weaving has always been important to the Hetet family of weavers. They fostered a renaissance of this weaving tradition.
Born in Te Kuuiti in 1920, she was named Diggeress after the nickname ‘digger’ was acquired by the World War I Māori Battalion. She married Tana Te Kanawa at age 20 and they had twelve children, raising them at Oparure. Just as Diggeress grew up to follow the weavers she watched as a child, members of her own family have done the same.
A highly significant collection of her kahu huruhuru (woven muka cloaks, feathered on one side) is on long term loan at Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum and Gallery.
