Coffee and Croissants: Maungarongo Te Kawa and Zoe Black

Hear all about Hineteiwaiwa and her travels in this Coffee & Croissants kōrero between artist Maungarongo Te Kawa and Objectspace Deputy Director Zoe Black.

As part of the touring exhibition Te Whare Pora: a sacred space, Te Kawa’s quilt Hineteiwaiwa has travelled through Norway and across Aotearoa. In this kōrero, Ron and Zoe will share and reflect on their time in Norway, and share insights into Te Kawa’s practice.

Get your $10 ticket to attend this morning talk with a coffee & croissant in hand.

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Maungarongo Te Kawa (Ngāti Porou) has been working prolifically in fashion, art, community and education in Aotearoa New Zealand for the past three decades. Using sewing as a conduit to connect with people, he expertly guides workshop participants to confidently create with fabric and express their genealogy through sewing. Over two decades, Te Kawa’s distinctive quilting style has explored mātauranga Māori (knowledge) and his whakapapa (genealogy) through bold colour and a tactile application of materials. Breaking the rules of traditional quilt construction, many types of fabric are masterfully stitched together to illustrate scenes from his imagination, his history and the stories of the people influential to his life. Te Kawa has exhibited throughout Aotearoa, including solo exhibitions in 2021 at Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki and Objectspace, and in 2020 at Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi, Whakatāne.

Zoe Black (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Pākehā) is the Deputy Director of Objectspace, a public gallery dedicated to craft, design and architecture in Aotearoa New Zealand. She works across curatorial programming, community and international development, programme delivery and more. Black’s curatorial practice centres community development and advocating for critically under-represented craft and object art forms. She was Norwegian Crafts' curator in residence (2020–2022), working on projects that create a dialogue between Indigenous making practices in Aotearoa and Sápmi, is part of The Indigenous Curatorial Collective (ICCA), works with the advocacy group Art Makers Aotearoa, and contributes governance, advisory and writing to arts and cultural initiatives. She is currently leading the five-year project Pohewa Pāhewa with a rōpū (group) of independent curators – an Objectspace programme dedicated to Māori design

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The Whakapapa of Moonlight comes from the exhibition Te Whare Pora: a sacred space that includes works by Te Kawa from the past three years alongside three new quilts reflecting the core pou of his practice: Te Whare Pora, the sacred zone of making; Hineteiwaiwa, the guiding atua (deity) for creativity; and Waipunarangi, the source of ancestral guidance and inspiration.

Te Whare Pora: a sacred space is curated by Zoe Black, supported by Norwegian Crafts and Creative New Zealand and developed by Objectspace. It has been shown at Nitja senter for samtidskunst, Lillestrøm, Norway, Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš, Karasjok, Sápmi, and Te Manawa Museum, Palmerston North, Aotearoa. It will open at its final venue, Tairawhiti Museum, Tairawhiti, Aotearoa, on 29 November 2024.

Host or Publisher Objectspace