Discovered in a pop-up gallery in Wellington 42 years ago, a pastel portrait of Tūhoe kuia Rangi Ruri by a renowned artist, has returned home to the Eastern Bay.

Wellington resident Alexandra d'Ardern-Trail recently presented the portrait to Te Whare Taonga o Taketake, Whakatāne Museum Collections and Research Centre.

“I've had Rangi's portrait for 42 years. She has been halfway around the world with me, including 11 years in Hong Kong," said d'Ardern-Trail. "I found her in a little pop-up gallery in Auckland. I used to look at it when I went past and think there was something about it.”

D'Ardern-Trail said she knew the gallery owner and asked to have a closer inspection of the work: “And so I bought it.

“Eventually, I took her to live with me in Hong Kong for 11 years. And I have a suspicion that the artist was there when I was.”

Since then, the portrait has travelled with d'Ardern-Trail to various locations, garnering interest from potential buyers.

“People have tried to buy her. I have moved around fifteen times, and she has always come with me,” she said.

“She is extremely important to me, so I wanted her to be placed where I thought was the best place for her to be. I thought about selling her, but that was not right. Even though she was Tūhoe, I didn't know her iwi. I started to do in-depth investigation, digging into who she was, and found out she was from Tūhoe iwi. I thought she needs to go back to Tūhoe, that is her home, that is where she comes from.”

D'Ardern-Trail shared some background on Rangi Ruri: “Her provenance was very brief; she was a kuia and about 103 years old in the 1970s when she was painted. I think she was a chieftain’s daughter, and she had to have a moko done on her chin, but it hurt so much she asked her dad if she could forgo having the top lip done and he said yes, so he must have been a nice guy.”

The artist behind the portrait, Stephanie Komuro, is a New Zealander who was married to a Japanese man.

“The artist grew up in Wellington, studied art, and decided she would focus on portraiture. She studied more in New South Wales but at some point, decided she wanted to paint elderly Māori women, kuia, with a chin moko. So, she spent several years traveling New Zealand, creating a collection of paintings, some in oils.”

Komuro's work is often not for sale. “She has kept them for herself. She also moved to Japan for some time, to Hong Kong, the United States, the UK, and then ended up in Canada. She has painted commissioned portraits for Sir Edmund Hillary, two US presidents, including George Bush, Plácido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti. Marty Friedland has photographed her as well.”

Head of the museum research centre, Mark Sykes, said: “We have had several of Tūhoe taonga come home.”

He said Te Whare Taonga o Taketake looked forward to connecting Rangi Ruri with her whānau.