Courtyard Sculpture - Displaced Mihi

Photograph of the sculpture, a bronze carved form covered in symbols and patterns, on top of a black plinth in the MAA courtyard. The area is surrounded by green plants and the museum entrance is visible on the right hand side.

Lyonel Grant
Displaced Mihi
Bronze, 2020

Lyonel Grant (born 1957) is an internationally distinguished Māori sculptor, renowned for work that bridges customary practice and contemporary art.

Displaced Mihi was created especially for the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The work adapts the traditional carved tekoteko, the figure that stood at the top of a customary meeting house to challenge and welcome visitors. On the surface of this contemporary bronze, customary design has been replaced by writing and imagery, referring to history and empire. 

Displaced Mihi offers a Polynesian welcome to visitors to this northern hemisphere museum, and acts as kaitiaki, as guardian, of the ancestral treasures from many cultures that are here.

Gift of John and Fiona Gow and whānau, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2020

Two side by side detail photographs of the sculpture. The head (left) has a script panel, with the carved word 'MAORI' visible at the bottom. The arms and body (right) have mostly script and writing across them, which look like they come from a newspaper.

Displaced Mihi by Lyonel Grant, 2020 - details.

Lyonel Grant carving a large wooden sculpture. He leans over a wooden sculpture with a hammer and chisel, clearly mid work, with a focused expression on his face.
Māori sculptor Lyonel Grant working in his studio in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Installing the sculpture

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