 The Mata Aho Collective at the Venice Biennale Youth Forum in 2017 | |
| Formation | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | New Zealand |
| Website | www |
The Mataaho Collective is a group of four New Zealand artists: Erena Baker, Sarah Hudson, Bridget Reweti and Terri Te Tau. They are known for their large scale fibre-based artwork. In 2024 the Mataaho Collective received the Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale. [1]
The artists of Mataaho are Māori women artists, listed here with their Māori iwi affiliations: Erena Baker (Te Atiawa ki Whakarongotai, Ngāti Toa Rangātira), Sarah Hudson (Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe), Bridget Reweti (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi) and Terri Te Tau (Rangitāne ki Wairarapa). [2] They are all graduates of the Toioho ki Āpiti Māori Visual Arts programme at Massey University. [3] In 2011, the artists attended two hui (meetings) held at Poupatete Marae in Halcombe which gave them an opportunity to exchange ideas in a kaupapa Māori (Māori-focused) space. [3]
The Mataaho Collective was established in 2012, when the group were invited to undertake a residency at Enjoy Public Art Gallery where they made their first work together: [4]
In early 2012 [Enjoy curator] Claudia Arozqueta indicated through conversation with some of the artists that she would like to have Māori women participate in the Enjoy Public Art Gallery Summer residency, which was to culminate in an exhibition. During development for the residency, the four artists decided to make a single work together, naming themselves Mataaho Collective. Their first work, Te Whare Pora, was inspired by customary weaving spaces as sites of wānanga for sharing and learning reigned over by the atua wahine Hineteiwaiwa. They treated the residency like a contemporary whare pora, proposing to eat, sleep and create the work all within the gallery.The contemporary kaupapa of the work was extended by the nature of the materials the collective worked with. During the month of the Enjoy Summer Residency, twenty black faux mink blankets were deconstructed and reconfigured to create a 5 x 10 m installation that covered the gallery floor space and stood up against the back wall at 90 degrees. [3]
Since then, Mataaho has continued to work with concepts and materials relevant to contemporary Māori culture.
Materials used by the collective include faux mink blankets, synthetic marine rope, reflective tape and tarpaulin. The group have stated that "As a rule, we like to address accessibility in our work through our use of material. In using ubiquitous materials that can be found both domestically and industrially, we hope that the recognisability can act as an initial ‘in’ to the work." [5]
For the work Te Whare Pora the collective used faux mink blankets, describing these domestic objects as "an instantly recognisable modern Māori material. Mink blankets are readily accessible and warm, commonly used on marae, and often gifted at significant birthdays." [3]
In 2017, Mataaho exhibited Kiko Moana at Documenta 14. The large scale work, made of sewn blue plastic tarpaulins, was installed at the Hessisches Landesmuseum. [6] The work was later acquired by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and later exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 2018, as part of the Oceania exhibition;. [7] [8]
Their 2019 commission for the National Gallery of Canada's exhibition Àbadakone | Continuous Fire | Feu Continuel, titled AKA, was nominated as a finalist in the 2021 Walters Prize. [9] [10] After the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, the collective presented another work, Atapō (created in collaboration with Maureen Lander) which was commissioned for the 2020 Auckland Art Gallery exhibition Toi Tū, Toi Ora. [11]
In August 2021, Mataaho won the Walters Prize with the work Atapō. The juror of the prize was the British-born curator Kate Fowle. [12]
In September 2022, Mataaho received an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award, titled the My Art Visual Award. [13] [14]
In 2024 Mataaho Collective were part of the Venice Biennale in Italy in the International Exhibition, Stranieri Ovunque – ForeignersEverywhere. They won the Golden Lion, for the Best Participant, the highest prize. [15]
Exhibitions include:
Shona Rapira Davies is a sculptor and painter of Ngātiwai ki Aotea tribal descent. Currently residing in Wellington New Zealand.
Jolene Douglas is a contemporary New Zealand Māori artist who has been exhibiting since 1983. Two of her art works are in the collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. She is currently living in Gisborne and been a curator Tairawhiti Museum since 1995. Douglas was born in 1950 in Matamata, New Zealand.
Shane William Cotton is a New Zealand painter whose work explores biculturalism, colonialism, cultural identity, Māori spirituality, and life and death.
Māori traditional textiles are the indigenous textiles of the Māori people of New Zealand. The organisation Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa, the national Māori weavers' collective, aims to preserve and foster the skills of making and using these materials.
Wi Te Tau Pirika Taepa is a significant figure in contemporary New Zealand ceramics, and a leading figure in contemporary Māori clay art.
Maureen Robin Lander is a New Zealand weaver, multimedia installation artist and academic. Lander is of Ngāpuhi and Pākehā descent and is a well-respected and significant artist who since 1986 has exhibited, photographed, written and taught Māori art. She continues to produce and exhibit work as well as attend residencies and symposia both nationally and internationally.
Paerau Corneal is a New Zealand ceramicist of Tūwharetoa and Te Āti Haunui-a-Paparangi descent.
Colleen Elizabeth Waata-Urlich was a New Zealand ceramicist. Of Māori descent, she belonged to Te Popoto o Ngāpuhi ki Kaipara and Te Rarawa. Through education, involvement in Māori art collectives and production of exhibited work, Urlich was dedicated to the development of Māori art.
Christina Hurihia Wirihana is a New Zealand weaver from Te Arawa, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Rangiunora, Ngāti Raukawa, Tainui iwi.
Emily (Emare) Karaka is a New Zealand artist of Māori descent Her work is recognised for "its expressive intensity, her use of high key colour, and her gritty address of political issues related to Māori land rights and the Treaty of Waitangi".
Lonnie Hutchinson is a New Zealand artist of Māori, Samoan and European descent.
This is a timeline of the feminist art movement in New Zealand. It lists important figures, collectives, publications, exhibitions and moments that have contributed to discussion and development of the movement. For the indigenous Māori population, the emergence of the feminist art movement broadly coincided with the emergence of Māori Renaissance.
Peter Robinson is a New Zealand artist of Māori descent. He is an associate professor at the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland.
Bridget Reweti is a New Zealand photographer and moving image artist of Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāi Te Rangi descent. Reweti is a member of the artist group Mata Aho Collective.
Bethany Matai Edmunds is a New Zealand Māori weaver, textile artist, museum professional and hip hop lyricist. She is affiliated with Ngāti Kurī iwi. Her works are held in the collection of the Auckland City Gallery.
Reweti Arapare is a New Zealand illustrator, sculptor and painter.
Erena Baker is a New Zealand visual artist of Ngāti Toa Rangatira Te Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai and Te Āti Awa descent. Baker uses photography to explore ideas of commemoration and remembrance within Te ao Māori. She is also a member of Mata Aho Collective, a group of four artists known for their large-scale art works. As part of the collective their work has been exhibited internationally at the Royal Academy of Arts and the National Gallery of Canada.
John Bevan Ford was a New Zealand Māori artist and educator who started exhibiting in 1966. He is a leading figure in contemporary Māori art with art held in all large public collections of New Zealand. In 2005 Ford received the Creative New Zealand Te Waka Toi Kingi Ihaka Award.
The Haeata Māori Women Arts Collective was a Māori women's arts collective that started in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington), New Zealand. The name refers to the first shaft of light at dawn.
Raukura Maria Turei is a New Zealand artist, actor and architect. She works with Māori iwi to design community-focused developments at the architectural practice Monk Mackenzie Architects. Her paintings have been exhibited throughout New Zealand, and she appeared in the New Zealand film The Dead Lands.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
