About the artists exhibiting in Venice
John Turi-Tiakitai
(Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne)
John Turi-Tiakitai is an arts and cultural advisor, teacher, and weaver. His relationship with Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa and Toi Māori was founded while he was the Cultural Development Manager at Te Puia New Zealand Māori Arts & Crafts Institute in Rotorua. A past manager of arts programmes at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Rotorua, he was instrumental in developing the weaving arts degree programme. Alongside Edna Pahewa and Christina Wirihana, Turi-Tiakitai has assisted in the curation of several exhibitions and publications including He Hekenga nō Ngā Tūpuna (2018); Te Ringa Rehe: The Legacy of Emily Schuster (2017); Whiria: Weaving Global Connections (2015). His particular interest in weaving is the whatu pūreke and pākē, the simple rain capes that have become popular in recent times.
Kereama Taepa
(Te Arawa, Te Āti Awa)
Kereama Taepa is a contemporary Māori artist who creates artwork based on customary Māori artforms with a technological twist. Taepa’s works are informed by customary Māori art forms and conventions yet use digital technologies to explore Te Ao Matihiko and it’s relationship to Te Ao Māori. His work at times remains digital through projections, 3D animations, AR, VR and Online experiences and also manifests physically through digital prints on paper and 3D printed works at various scales. His work also combines multiple technologies within installation experiences. Taepa’s product based work includes 3D printed jewellery and taonga puoro.
Neke Moa
(Te Whare a Papaīra, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Ahuriri, Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Tūwharetoa)
Neke Moa’s practice seeks to promote hauora by deepening connections between tāngata, tohunga and atua. Using materials from the taiao, and drawing on customary and contemporary processes, she works to make mātauranga and pūrākau newly accessible. Working primarily with pounamu, shell and other locally sourced materials, her practice as a jeweller and carver explores the whakapapa of materials making and the role of body adornment in creating a sense of belonging to people and place. Some of Moa's most recent exhibitions are Ngā tirohanga whānui a Parehuia, solo exhibition at Objectspace (2024); Mauri, collaboration with Paula Conroy at Season Aotearoa (2023); Always song in the water, group show at Auckland Maritime Museum (2023). In 2023, she was awarded a prestigious Herbert Hofmann Prize at Munich Jewellery Week and was a McCahon House artist-in-residence. Works by Moa are held in the collections of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, The Dowse Art Museum and Te Papa Tongarewa.
Suzanne Tamaki
(Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāi Tūhoe)
Suzanne Tamaki is an artist and social provocateur who uses fashion and photography to create visual narratives that respond to cultural-politics in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her works often investigate the nature of indigenous feminisms in the South Pacific, challenging the colonial gaze and Western ideas of nationhood within a bi-cultural nation. As an individual artist and as a member of Pacific Sisters and the SaVAge K’lub art collectives, Tamaki has exhibited works extensively throughout Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally, with exhibitions at The National Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (2018), Sharman Gallery Winnipeg (2017), The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (APT8, Brisbane, Australia, 2016), Expressions Arts Centre (Upper Hutt, 2015), City Gallery Wellington (2011), the British Museum (England, 2008), the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (England, 2005) and the Dowse Art Museum (2004).
About the curator
Karl Chitham
(Ngāpuhi, Te Uriroroi)
Karl Chitham has been an advocate of the arts for over 20 years having held roles in universities, museums and public galleries over that time. He is a trustee of Wairau Māori Art Gallery, the first dedicated public Māori art gallery nationally and has written for multiple arts publications including co-authoring the ground-breaking publication Crafting Aotearoa: A Cultural History of New Zealand and the Wider Moana Oceania. He has curated numerous exhibitions including Whetūrangitia/Made As Stars, Reuben Paterson: The Only Dream Left co-curated with Aaron Lister at City Gallery, Wellington, and Takiwā Hou: Imagining New Spaces for the inaugural Malta Biennale and shown at Te Tuhi. As well as recent international projects in the last 12 months; Shannon Te Ao: Ia ra ia ra (rere runga, rere raro) as the NZ Pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale, South Korea, and co-curator of Familiar in the Foreign: Jewellery from the Southern Hemisphere at Galerie Handwerk, Munich, Germany. Karl is currently Head of Arts & Culture for Hutt City Council and director of The Dowse Art Museum.