James Waerea (1940 – 2019) was a New Zealand Māori cartoonist, author and illustrator of Ngati Kahungunu and Te Arawa descent.[1][2]
While Waerea was a primary school teacher, he began writing and illustrating the series of children's books Pukunui.[1] There were four books in the series. In 2009 an American animation company began republishing his books.[1] He was cartoonist for New Zealand Truth from 1991, his last cartoons appearing in the early 2000s.[3][4]
Diamond notes that Waerea called 'Maori to account' but his cartoons deployed 'a whimsical humour' which defused 'tension around sensitive issues'.[3]
Waerea died in 2019.[2]
Selected works edit
- Pukunui (1976)
- Pukunui and his friend Moata Moa (1981)
- Pukunui the astronaut (1982)
- Pukunui's hangi (1986)
References edit
- ^ a b c "Pukunui children's books go global". Radio New Zealand. 2009-12-03. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
- ^ a b "Waerea, James, 1940-2019". tiaki.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- ^ a b Diamond, Paul (2018). Savaged to suit : Māori and cartooning in New Zealand. Wellington: New Zealand Cartoon Archive, Alexander Turnbull Library. pp. 169–170. ISBN 9780992247706. OCLC 1053803863.
- ^ "James Waerea | New Zealand Cartoon Archive". www.cartoons.org.nz. Retrieved 2019-03-23.
External links edit
Search for work by James Waerea on DigitalNZ