Chief Miko

Krener was born in Papeete, to a father who was a carpenter who built Polynesian farmhouses for wealthy Americans in Hawaii, and a mother who was a nurse. He was adopted by his grandfather the day he was born. His grandfather Rai in Nouméa Pouira built canoes and houses. His other grandfather, Marcel Krainer, was Austrian consul in Polynesia in the 1950s.

Krener grew up in Arue until the age of fourteen, on Orohena land, the land of the Teihoarii clan of Bora Bora, the ancestors of his paternal grandfather's mother. A good student at school,he was the only one in his class to pass the end-of-year exams and obtain the school certificate.

At the age of twelve he joined Fetia, the Arue dance group which became Ahutoru Nui in 1989. He joined the troupe as a dancer. His uncle and neighbor, the sculptor Vaiere Mara, introduced the young man to wood sculpture. Then the raatira (troop leader) of Arue Teipo Temaiana asked him to carve drums and to'ere for the troupe. There was also an aunt who lived with a Marquesan sculptor that Michel helped, Joseph Kimitete. The young man also grew up in the entourage of Te Arapo, the master of Sem Manutahi and Henri Hiro, who lived in the Tefaaroa neighborhood with the uncles Teauna. He was the greatest speaker with Papa Rai, the first to restore fire walking before Raymond Graffe. All these people passed on a real passion for traditional culture to Krener.

At this time, Krener heard that his father was building boats in Honolulu, and he was tempted to go find him. After an intermediate year to learn the language, he entered Oahu High School. After two years, Krener obtained his High School diploma, the equivalent of the baccalaureate. He was adopted by the Kamalamalama family, a musical family from Waikiki. Father Billy Richmond was making the mold for the Hōkūleʻa canoe. He was a founding member of the Polynesian Society of Hawaii. All these people were searching for their identity and looking for where they come from. Michel was not 21, the age to board the canoe in 1976, he was only sixteen...

In the 1980s Michel sailed a lot on Hōkūleʻa and was introduced to traditional navigation by Micronesian navigator Mau Piailug.

In 1999 Krener took the name Chief Miko.[2] He had numerous designs tattooed symbolizing his passion for ancestral navigation, each of his five children, and also more esoteric symbols, such as a bird. The bird, symbol of the journey, is the link between Chief Miko, the sculptor Pitore and the tattoo artist Porutu, arrived on Oahu aboard the large double canoe Te Aurere, welcomed by Krener who asks him to tattoo him...

Andreas Dettloff and Chief Miko in the documentary Moko le chef voyant.

In 2000 Chief Miko returned to Tahiti for good. He became the orero raatira of the Heikura Nui troupe . With Heikura Nui, they won two grand prizes at the Heiva i Tahiti competition. He settled on the land of his paternal ancestors, Teriri land in Arue Erima, named after a queen of Bora Bora. In a bamboo house with a large faapu (vegetable garden), where he carved wood and grew vegetables and medicinal plants. On 24 June 2013, the Papeete court ordered the expulsion of Chief Miko and his family. After moving, he set himself a challenge: making a hundred large Tahitian tikis for the Chinese market.

In 2014 Miko joined the CCCTP collective, Center de Création Contemporaine Teroronui de Papeete,[3] a transdisciplinary collective chaired by Jonathan Bougard, whose objective was to work towards the perpetuation of local cultures while supporting the relationship with the means of modern communications. His cultural and artistic practices, as rich as they were varied, implemented this intersection of eras and cultures which signals the vitality of an artistic expression. Within this collective Miko foundartists such as Max Tohitika, Julien Magre, Massimo Colombini, Moana Heitaa and Teva Victor. They exhibited at the House of Culture of Tahiti, Te Fare Tauhiti Nui, then at the University of French Polynesia. According to a text by Jean-Louis Poitevin, “The CCTP intended “to give the desire for image a central place in the cultural and social life of Tahiti. (…) From tradition to the diffusion of this tradition, from tattooing with a comb to new technologies, this exhibition questions and provides its answers, defines what it is to be an artist today in Tahiti and gives pride of place to artists as well. Polynesians only with offbeat looks.” Beyond the exhibition of paintings, sculptures, Indian inks, happenings and live creations are organized: Chief Miko sculpts live with a chainsaw, then traditional tattoo sessions with a comb, a seminar around of these aspects follow. The Polynesian Culture and Heritage Department responds to the invitation of the CCCTP.[4]

But Chief Miko is too cramped in this institutional framework. He returned from Hawaii enthroned as Marshall of the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi by King Aleka.[5] Atooi is a Polynesian kingdom that is trying to officially reintroduce kala, traditional Polynesian currency. A true activist, Chief Miko enters into open conflict with the local and French authorities.[6] He made the headlines of Polynesian news for his outrageous actions, and attracted the animosity of a part of the Polynesian population, who did not wish to return to the times of their ancestors.[7]

Chief Miko features in the documentary Tatau, la culture d'un art, directed in 2014 by Jean-Philippe Joaquim.[8]

In 2017 Chief Miko was the subject of a documentary film co-directed by Jonathan Bougard and Jean-Philippe Joaquim, Miko, le chef voyant.[9]