Before the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, the Pyatt Memorial Tukutuku Panels hung on the wall of Christchurch Cathedral where I saw them on the day of my father's funeral in August 2010, and the words they incorporated—He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata. ("What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people")—resonated with me in that moment as a central theme of my father's life.
The piece begins with the well-known whakataukī (Māori proverb) from the Cathedral panels. The question is asked tentatively at first, and as more voices join and the dynamic builds, the other two whakataukī affirm: Aroha mai, aroha atu. ("Love coming towards us, love going out from us") and Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa ("Let us stay close together, not far apart"). In the end, Aroha, amine ("Love, amen") provides the calm certainty which envelopes the original question and its answer for the last time.