We are so happy to share the design for the Children of the Sky Summit-Aotearoa! The design will be on all marketing collateral, signage and of course merchandise! Look for the Children of the Sky Aotearoa Hoodies and Tees and other merchandise for purchase at the Summit and coming soon online in the US and other countries.

 

Color Significance

The Children of the Sky color palette was chosen with deep cultural intention. Black and ocher are traditional colors shared across both Māori and Yup’ik worlds. Ocher carries sacred significance in both cultures: for Māori, kōkōwai is connected to ancestral power, the earth, and ceremonial tradition; for Yup’ik People, uiteraq is a sacred red ocher associated with creation/life, ancestry, and spiritual relationship. 

 

Ocher is also the color of the bar-tailed godwit as it takes on its breeding plumage and returns north to Alaska from Aotearoa, embodying the migratory kinship at the heart of Children of the Sky and the first migratory Kin behind Children of the Sky.

 

Black is likewise a powerful traditional color in both cultures. Together, black and ocher honor the sacred relationship between sky, earth, migration, and the Indigenous Peoples connected by the flight of the kūaka.

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Te Ururangi Rowe-Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi. Māori Artist, Tā Moko Practitioner, and Lead Carver, Ngā Puna Waihanga, Te Ao Hou Marae, Whanganui, Aotearoa New Zealand, 

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Te Ururangi Rowe is a Māori carver, tā moko artist, and cultural practitioner based at Te Ao Hou Marae in Whanganui, Aotearoa New Zealand. With more than 22 years of experience in whakairo (traditional Māori carving), he is dedicated to preserving ancestral knowledge, cultural identity, and the artistic traditions of his People.

As a lead carver at Te Ao Hou Marae, Te Ururangi contributes to the revitalization of traditional Whanganui carving styles, the restoration and adornment of the marae, and the mentorship of emerging Māori artists. His work reflects a deep connection to whakapapa (ancestry), whenua (land), and the natural world.

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Te Ururangi is also the artist behind the kūaka (bar-tailed godwit) artwork featured in the Children of the Sky Summit, celebrating the ancestral and ecological connections between Indigenous Peoples across the Pacific.