Madison Kelly

In addition to making art, Madison Kelly is a kaiārahi, or forest guide, at Te Korowai o Mihiwaka Orokonui Ecosanctuary, which operates in partnership with Kelly’s local hapū Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki. This community-led, not-for-profit conservation project near Ōtepoti Dunedin contains 307 hectares of protected cloud forest. Nourished by the mist that clings to the slopes of two mauka on either side, the kahere is home to ancient rimu and other native podocarps and offers sanctuary to many threatened native birds, reptiles, frogs, fish and insects. As kaiārahi, Kelly spends long hours in, and with, the kahere. This small field drawing – full of mottled shadows and tilting leaves – testifies to that familiarity, revealing a profound interspecies exchange that continues to deepen and strengthen under the canopy.

hapū ~ sub-tribe mauka ~ mountains kahere ~ bush, forest

(He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil, 2025)