Jonathan Mane-Wheoki

Jonathan Ngarimu Mane-Wheoki

Of Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī and English descent^[1], Mane-Wheoki was born on 18 December 1943,^[2][3] and grew up in the Hokianga.^[1] When his family moved to Titirangi in the 1950s, he came into contact with the prominent New Zealand artist, Colin McCahon, who would become his first art teacher at night classes taught at the Auckland Art Gallery by McCahon in the 1950s.^[4] He later studied at the University of Canterbury, where Rudolf Gopas was an important influence on him,^[4] and at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, gaining a Bachelor of Arts, Diploma of Fine Arts (with honours in painting) and a Master of Arts.^[5][6] His 1969 Master of Arts thesis was titled The musical phase of modern painting.^[7]

He began his academic career at the University of Canterbury in 1975, rising to become dean of music and fine arts.

Mane-Wheoki, who was an openly gay Anglican churchman, was seen as a positive role model in the LGBT community in New Zealand. Professor Geremy Hema stated, "for gay Maori and gay Anglicans his mere presence provides much inspiration. He was respected, adored and revered by all in the Maori, academic, ecclesiastical, and creative circles in which he and his partner Paul existed."^[10]

Honours

In 2008, Mane-Wheoki was awarded an honorary

He died in Auckland on 10 October 2014 after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer,^[14][15] having recently visited the Hokianga to see where he would be buried,^[1] and said he was prepared to die. "I am relaxed about it, what else can I be?" He died a month after his investiture ceremony at Government House as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

References