Mate Tipu, Mate Rākau follows Department of Conservation Ranger Graeme Atkins (Ngāti Porou, Rongomaiwahine), as he reveals the rapid devastation that the airborne fungal pathogen myrtle rust is having on the East Coast. This documentary lays bare the distress and urgency felt by environmental kaitiaki in Aotearoa, as myrtle rust (Austropuccinia psidii) compounds an already precarious situation for threatened native species.
The 9-minute documentary, produced and directed by videographer Fiona Apanui-Kupenga (Ngāti Porou) and her team at Te Amokura Productions, is one of the first creative projects commissioned by Toi Taiao Whakatairanga, a cross-disciplinary collaborative research project funded by the National Science Challenge/Ngā Rakau Taketake. The project integrates practices from the arts, science, and te ao Māori to raise awareness of biological threats to New Zealand’s ngahere, and wider ecological systems.