TUKU: Artist Kōrero — Returning & Reflecting

As we move into the final week of TUKU, join the artists for a concluding kōrero, reflecting on the journey of the project and the work created over the six‑week residency. The artists will speak to their creative processes, key learnings, challenges, and discoveries, and discuss how the kaupapa evolved over time. This second part will give insight into what was created, how ideas shifted through making, experimentation, and collaboration, and what the artists take forward from the experience.

Bios

WharehokaSmith (Te Ātiawa, Taranaki, Ngāruahine, Pākehā) is a senior Taranaki artist whose large-scale works draw on customary forms and imagery to express perspectives grounded in te ao Māori.

Jodie Tipa (Kāi Tahu ki Moeraki) brings new focus to enduring patterns laden with ancestral significance in her large installation artworks. She explores whakapapa (genealogy) and identity through abstract designs which have been treasured for generations, expressed in woven forms such as raranga and tukutuku panels.

Dwayne Duthie’s (Taranaki, Te Ātiawa, Pākehā) figures gaze directly at the viewer, provoking existential reflection on what it means to be human – alone, and as a collective. The human condition, innocence, identity, power and control are some of the major themes