Ka mua, ka muri: A retrospective kōrero through te wheiao ki te ao mārama – Robyn Angell-Morice in conversation with Heleina Waimoana Dalton

Ka mua, ka muri, ka tū te aroha nāianei — a Māori proverb reminding us to walk into the future, looking to the past, grounded in love. This guiding truth shapes the conversation between Heleina Waimoana Dalton and Robyn Angell-Morice (Bobbie), as they gently weave together strands from the rich whāriki aroha of Bobbie’s life. Across four decades, her journey has evolved from “arts as therapy” into a fully embodied practice of Arts Therapy, informed by spirituality, culture, connection, education and lived experience.

This podcast sits alongside Bobbie’s article, A retrospective review – Through the wheiao: Creating a cultural arts therapy identity through an autoethnographic lens. Te Reo Māori flows naturally throughout their kōrero — not as a glossary to be decoded, but as a living, rhythmic presence to be heard, felt, and experienced. The opening mihimihi acknowledges the Creative Source, our ancestors, guardians of land and each other. The Whakapapa of Creation is also included as text. Listeners are invited to lean into the textures and sounds of the language, allowing the deeper meanings to emerge in their own time.