Kei waenganui o ngā Atua Wāhine

Kei waenganui o ngā Atua Wāhine is a collaborative exhibition which brings together stories and voices of Wāhine Māori creative practitioners. The project explores the possibilities of art and design when an ecology of a space is made to hold their whakairo, a space where they can rest and be shared.

Kei waenganui o ngā Atua Wāhine is centred by an audio archive, featuring Elisapeta Hinemoa Heta, Qiane Matata-Sipu, Te Ara Minhinnick, Nikau Hindin, Hana Pera Aoake, Zoe Black, Heidi Brickell and Cassie Hart. These Wāhine each share advice they wish they had been given as emerging practitioners and offer their hopes for future generations. This audio is surrounded by writings of Atua Wāhine. Saskia Sassen, Ariana Sutton, and Cassie Hart tell their stories of Papatūānuku, Hinetītama, & Hinenuitepō. Kei waenganui o ngā Atua Wāhine is a living conversation and a collective voice that is activated through audio, poetry, short stories, image and design.

Kurawaka is a publication designed to support the larger kaupapa of Kei waenganui o ngā Atua Wāhine. The publication collates excerpts from the audio archive, writings of Atua Wāhine and images and design. Kurawaka explores how a historically western medium can be better designed and repurposed to more appropriately hold these stories and these whakaaro on its pages.

The Booth is open for proposals in an annual call. Read more about the space here.

Exhibition label