Kura Te Waru Rewiri is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most celebrated Māori artists and an influential educator, with a long history of teaching in schools, tertiary institutions, universities and Whare Wananga. At the suggestion of Buck Nin (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa), who taught her at Bay of Islands College, Te Waru Rewiri moved south to study fine arts at the University of Canterbury, in 1973 writing her honours thesis on pre-European Māori art and stone tool carving. She wrote: “As Māori women we have to redefine our past so that we know where we stand now.” Te Waru Rewiri gives voice to the concerns of Māori women and represents Māori realities and beliefs. Her contribution to culture continues not only through her art, but through her support and nurturing of students, fellow artists and contemporary Māori art curators.

(Living Archives, 25 October 2025 – 8 March 2026)

With Lick, Angela Tiatia presents a balancing act between resistance and vulnerability. Filmed in Tuvalu, a South Pacific nation endangered by rising sea levels because of global warming, it shows how environmental, political and cultural issues can intersect.Because of the actions (and inaction) of much larger nations, Tuvaluans face losing their homeland and irreplaceable aspects of their culture within the next fifty years. As Tiatia fights to hold her position on a small piece of coral, we glimpse her malu – a traditional leg tattoo and adornment specific to Samoan women – through the shifting water. Associated with cultural responsibilities, sheltering and protection, the malu emphasises both Tiatia’s Oceanic heritage and the need to protect its people and their way of life.

(Te Wheke, 2020)