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Mai i te pānga tuatahi maio te ao whānui, me tā rātou
tiro manene, ko te tino arotahi a ngā kōrero aro haehae
i ngā mahinga toi tāngata whenua, ko te motuhenga o
ngā taonga-ā-iwi. Arā anō hoki ētahi Māori me ā rātou
whāinga tōrangapū, whāinga ahurea rānei, e uta ana i
te whakaaro haratau ki ngā mahi toi a te Māori. E
wewete ai ngā herenga whakaaro nei, me tiki atu tētahi
o ngā whakataukī i waihotia mai e Ihenga, koia hoki
tētahi huarahi hei āta whakaaro atu ki te ariā whakaora
tikanga. He mea whai tikanga ngā wāhanga katoa o te
tipu o te rengarenga, mai i tōna whānautanga, ki tōna
hemotanga atu. I tēnei tuhinga, ka tirohia te arotahi
noa atu ki te pūawaitanga o te toi Māori, me ōna anga
haratau, ā, ka whakatītinatia te whakaaro tērā pea kāore
e tika ana ki tā te Māori titiro.

International (Westem) critical discourse with First
Nation artforms, from its first encounters, has often
featured a concern on the part of those outside the
culture with the authenticity of the tribal object.
Orthodoxy in our artforms is equally a self imposed
position by Māori on other Māori servicing various
political and cultural objectives. A whakataukī left us
by Ihenga becomes a way of exploring the notion of
cultural regeneration outside these boundaries. All
parts of the rengarenga lily's life cycle, referred to in
Ihenga 's proverb, are recognised as integral to it's
survival. This essay considers the concentration on
simply the flowering of Māori culture and its classical
templates as an unnatural and untenable activity.