Angela Awatea Tewaiariki Kerehoma 

Ngāruahinerangi, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa ki Tongariro 

Heke Toi Whakarākai - Diploma in Design and Art 

Student, Poutuarongo Toi Whakarākai - Bachelor of Design and Art 

16 September 2024 

Angela Awatea Tewaiariki Kerehoma grew up in South Taranaki at Ōhawe Beach, a small seaside village along the coastline. She attended kura there along with her siblings. She is the eldest with two brothers and a sister. She has a 21-year-old son, Luka Kamana. Luka is involved with mau rākau and is the founder of Tūtenganahau Tū Taua. Earlier this year he and his rōpū, along with Aotearoa Pā hosted the Te Whare Tū Taua o Aotearoa Whakamatautau. 

In 2023, Angela completed the Heke Toi Whakairo – Diploma in Design and Art (Weaving) at Te Wānanga o Raukawa. This year she enrolled into year two of the degree programme and plans to complete year three at the end of 2025. She was already an accomplished weaver when enrolling at Te Wānanga o Raukawa, however she is looking forward to receiving the degree qualification and becoming credentialled. She decided to study at Te Wānanga o Raukawa because it seemed like the right fit for her and her commitments. Angela often recommends Te Wānanga o Raukawa to whānau and friends because of her positive experiences on campus, notably the whanaungatanga and manaakitanga vibes. 

Largely self-taught through observation, Angela produces high quality weaving. People around her have termed her weaving as coming from “wairua”, as she had had no hand holding training. For example, during covid, Angela took a stanley knife to her marae, gathered harakeke from there and by the time we came out of covid she had made a piupiu with no instruction from anyone. She talks about how from a young age she was surrounded by skilled weavers, who she would watch and would sometimes join in and play at weaving. This included her grandmother who was a skilled weaver, and who lead the weaving of tukutuku panels for their wharenui hou at Aotearoa Pā at Ōkaiawa near Hawera. The wharenui hou, Te Ngakaunui was opened in 2005 and is the first wharenui of Ngāruahinerangi that is adorned with tukutuku panels, kōwhaiwhai and whakairo since the scorched earth campaigns of the 1860s. 

Her grandmother is Angela’s inspiration. Angela weaves like her grandmother and has leading roles amongst her hapū and iwi like her grandmother. She is the current chair for Aotearoa Pā and has led the infrastructure upgrade to Aotearoa Pā. She has also led weaving workshops for her whanaunga at the marae.