Inside museum collections around the world sit carvings, cloaks, weapons, musical instruments, bones, and names. They are labeled Māori artifacts. But for the iwi (tribes) of Aotearoa, these are not objects. They are taonga, treasures, yes, but more than that: Beings with lineage, rights, and responsibilities. To exhibit taonga is not simply to interpret the past. It is to enter a living relationship with an ancestral presence. Museums do not own taonga. At best, they are tem
