HONE TUWHARE AND RALPH HOTERE Poet and Painter

Hone Tuwhare (1922 - 2008) and Ralph Hotere (1931 -2013) were sons of the Hokianga and great friends. Hone, described as one of our greatest literary figures, was born in Kokewai, south east of Kaikohe, and Ralph, one of Aotearoa NZ's most significant contemporary artists, grew up in Mitimiti.
They worked together at times, with Hotere using words from Tuwhare's poems in his paintings and illustrating some of Tuwhare's published collections. Tuwhare, in turn, wrote a poem in honour of his friend. 'Hotere' begins:

When you offer only three
vertical lines precisely drawn
and set into a dark pool of lacquer
it is a visual starvation;
and even though my eyeballs
roll up and over to peer inside
myself, when I reach the beginning
of your eternity I say instead: hell
let's have another feed of mussels

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Janet Hunt's bio of Hone, published in 1998, is, up to that time a thorough and engaging read. Illustrated with his poetry and contemporary and historical photographs, 'this book looks at the life of Hone Tuwhare, boilermaker, political activist, husband, father and writer. https://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/kmko/06/ka_mate06_hunt.asp
Vincent O'Sullivan's recently published biography of his friend Ralph is also a lucid account which honours his life and work. Vincent held a residency at the Michael King Writers' Centre in 2009 in order to work on this important biography. 'He faced significant obstacles in the writing of it which saw it temporarily consigned to an archive box. We congratulate him on the completion of it against all the odds. https://writerscentre.org.nz/the-dark-is-light-enough.../

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