A showcase of work from twelve wāhine artists reflecting the breadth and vitality of contemporary toi Māori

Ngā Hau e Whā brings together the voices of twelve wāhine artists whose practices are carried from across the four winds of Aotearoa. This rōpū reflects the breadth and vitality of contemporary toi Māori, where inherited knowledge and lived experience intersect with experimentation, innovation, and new material languages. 

Grounded in the cosmological notion of Te Kore—the realm of potential—this exhibition considers creation as an ongoing state of emergence. From this space, each artist navigates the tensions and connections between what is inherited and what is made, between memory and material, and between the seen and the felt. 

Whakapapa moves through the exhibition not only as lineage, but as an active process of relation—binding people, materials, environments, and ideas. Works explore tuakiri (identity) as something both deeply rooted and continually unfolding, shaped through acts of making, exchange, and connection. There is an attentiveness to the fragile and the resilient: materials that appear delicate yet hold strength, histories marked by struggle yet sustained by endurance, and cultural forms that protect, carry, and transform knowledge across generations. 

The artists draw on a wide range of approaches—from painting and portraiture to sculptural and digital practices—engaging both customary references and non-customary expressions. Tukutuku, kākahu, and aho are reimagined alongside contemporary technologies and processes, creating new visual languages that honour the past while speaking firmly in the present. 

Embedded within the works are narratives of whenua, waterways, leadership, and belonging. They speak to the responsibilities of care and protection, the ongoing impacts of history, and the pursuit of connection—whether to people, place, or self. Together, these works form a dynamic field of exchange, where cultural knowledge is not static but living, adaptive, and generative. 

Ngā Hau e Whā is an invitation to engage with these currents—to witness the multiplicity of wāhine Māori voices shaping the continuum of toi Māori today. 

Artists 
Angerlia Oliver 
Claire Tane 
Eleazar Manutai Bramley 
Glenys Courtney-Strachan 
Hollie Tawhiao 
Kimiora Whaanga 
Nakita Tilson 
Peata Larkin 
Siobahn Wooding 
Tania Lewis-Rickard 
Tiffany Te Moananui