Artist Ruby Solly's epic, 248-pūtangitangi project

Kai Tahu musician and taonga pūoro practitioner Ruby Solly has made 248 different pūtangitangi, all part an exhibition called (Pū)oro.

Pūtangitangi are small Māori instruments made by hand with natural clay and pigments.

"They are tools, to be used for our own health and healing and connection," Solly told RNZ's Bryan Crump.

Each pūtangitangi will be exchanged for funds to contribute to Solly's doctoral research into the use of taonga pūoro in hauora; health and wellbeing.

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Traditionally pūtangitangi were made by wāhine, often for use as part of tangihanga to help to bring on the crying and wailing for the dead, as well as to both mimic and contain the emotions of tangi.

After holding and helping, these pūtangitangi could be broken down into dirt to return to the whenua from whence they came, Solly says.

The pūtangitangi in the exhibition come with a soundtrack of all of them being played, as well as a guide on the whakapapa of pūtangitangi and how to make your own.

"There is a sense that they are to be used, they are tools, to be used for our own health and healing and connection," Solly says.

Solly has used the pūtangitangi to help her through some "intense" emotional times, she says.

"I have some pieces that I've made from whenua at home, that I've used in really intense situations that I've kept that I will use again in similar situations.

"And I have pieces that I'm like, OK, I've used that now, this can go back."

While the process has been "pretty exhausting," it has been a satisfying project, she says.

"It's about kind of going from that starting of a sound and going out into the world. I'm just excited for that to happen too, aside from any of the financial stuff, I'm excited for these guys to head out and be that sound, vibrating on and on."

(Pū)oro is on 15 - 17 November, with Urban Dream Brokerage at 113 Taranaki Street, Wellington.