My painting is dedicated to my mum Lulu  Moka.  The painting is split into three, the first panel on the left represents “Motu” which means ‘island’ in English.

It is my contemporary view  of whenua (land).

I have always liked drawing versions of the koru pattern, these represent my connections to the whenua, both from Papatuanuku and from the placenta (whenua) of giving birth to my 12 children.

It also connects me to my tupuna and to the uri (generations to come).

The middle section is the pattern of the ‘Kiore’ a now extinct animal brought here on the Māmari waka by Ruānui in the time of the great migration, which accompanied our well-known Ngāpuhi waka, Ngātokimatawhaorua.

The names on the right are significant to where my tupuna and I come from MOTUKIORE (Island of the Kiore).

Ko Maramarua te Maunga

Ko Perunui te Awa

Ko Motukiore te Marae

Ko Te Arohamauroa te whare Tupuna

Ko Hokianga-nui-a-Kupe te Moana

Ko Te Ngahengahe te Hapū

Ko Ngāpuhi te Iwi

Ko Luanne Butler ahau.