Turumeke Harrington

Known primarily for her sculpture, installation and jewellery practice, Turumeke Harrington has recently started working with paint and whenua (earth) pigments on canvas. This painting comes from a particularly personal body of work made in 2026 following the death of one of the artist’s close friends. Harrington used whenua collected from Kura Tāwhiti Castle Hill and scratched kōwhaiwhai motifs into the painting’s surface. The use of whenua and the scratching of the paint – a technique known as sgraffito – can be considered in relation to Māori grieving practices such as applying pigment to tūpāpaku and kōiwi before takihaka, and haehae, the practice of cutting the skin in grief.

Harrington’s titles often incorporate personal jokes and play on words that reference song lyrics, whakataukī, place names and pūrākau. Here she reminds us that there can be humour and beauty in times of grief and loss. Hot boxed (Te Hau-kai-takata), which translates as “the wind that devours people” refers to the famous nor'west wind that whips across Kā Pākihi-whakatekateka-a-Waitaha, the Canterbury Plains. The mangōpare kōwhaiwhai motif decorating the surface of this work represents the hammerhead shark and is a symbol of strength and determination. Harrington’s application of paint and the kōwhaiwhai is loose and informal, while the layered rectangular forms break up the surface, like a window or portal into the past or another realm.

kōwhaiwhai painted scroll ornamentation commonly used on meeting house rafters tūpāpaku deceased person’s body takihaka funeral, rites for the dead whakataukī proverbs pūrākau ancestral narratives