What is your creative Discipline?
I am a contemporary artist, independent curator, and the editor of HĀTUA Magazine, which highlights Aotearoa's stories through people, art, and culture. My work examines how art preserves moments and creates opportunities for connection and collaboration.
What role does intuition play in your approach?
As a mother, artist and wahine Māori, we call intuition - rongo ā-manawa, which loosely translates in my opinion to ‘senses of the heart’ or wairua - one's spirit. These concepts are essential to my work: listening to what your heart is saying, what the work is saying, and, often, looking to our past ancestors for guidance, often via an intuitive connection.
A common myth about your industry?
That everyone cares about the same things as you.
Are there particular places, histories, or cultural threads you find yourself returning to?
I always return to whakapapa—the origin of things and their connections, determined by the context I am in.
What has been a particularly memorable encounter/environment?
I thought this question might inspire me to talk about a big moment around art but funnily what comes to mind as a memorable moment lately is in a cup of tea with someone that just happens out of the blue or staring at my one year old granddaughter Tatum’s enthusiasm while she devours food like it’s the last meal.
Least favourite trend? Social Media
Artwork to match the curtains, or the person? Always the curtains. People can be dull, lately, the story of a curtain feels far more compelling.
A must read?
Confessions of a Restless Heart by emerging poet, singer songwriter and artist Manaaki Murphy.
A must listen?
Olivia Dean - Man I Need, because it is my granddaughters favourite song.
Favourite place to dine?
Japanese from Temakeria at Eastridge Mall in Orakei.
If you could undertake any project, without limits, what would you pursue?
Create an art gallery that is an eco-system built on a tuakana-teina model and creates a platform for emerging artists surrounded by epic established artists that collaborate and work together.
One thing you can’t work without?
Space—both physical room to create and mental space to think, reflect, and let ideas grow.
Advice you’d give to your younger self?
it is going to be ok.
You can invite any three individuals to dinner, who do you invite?
I would invite Marina Abramovic, Frida Kahlo, and Elle Föenander. I believe they would make for an engaging evening of conversation.
A hero? My Children
If you could with any artwork of your choosing, which one would it be
A stonework sculpture of Anton Fordes or a Roger Mortimer painting would be pretty exciting to live with.