Te Tātai o Matariki Exhibition at Unitec’s Gallery One

Auckland, 26 June 2019 --- A selection of works by Unitec Māori Art and Design graduates will be on display at Gallery One from the start of July to mark a week-long celebration of Matariki at Unitec.

Te Tātai o Matariki celebrates the diverse practice of some of Unitec’s recent and past Māori graduates from various current and past Art and Design programmes, including the Bachelor of Creative Enterprise, the Master of Creative Practice, and the Bachelor of Design and Visual Arts. It features work by artists and designers including Atarangi Anderson, Whiromena Aevi Anaki Parker, Jacob Hamilton, Tikirau Jermaine-Rhyd Hathaway, Amy King, Geneva Lam, Kenneth Merrick, Rangimarie McDowell, Harriet Reihana, Jasmine Te Hira, Tyrone Te Waa, Tira Walsh, and Tanya White.

Dr Curtis Bristowe, who named the exhibition, said,”Te Tātai o Matariki speaks to the intangible spiritual bonds that we share not just with each other and our ancestors, but with all aspects of the natural environment that surrounds us.”

“Through raranga (weaving), painting, sculpture, graphic design, textiles, jewellery, photography and moving image, the artists and designers explore the cosmological, the speculative, the textural, the celestial and the ephemeral,” added Emma Smith, Academic Leader, Design & Contemporary Arts in Creative Industries at Unitec, and one of the exhibition’s curators. Te Tātai o Matariki advances the Creative Industries School at Unitec’s mission to promote bicultural exchange, the creation of innovative work, and to enable robust entry into the profession through a vibrant, connected, and sustainable community of dynamic, craft-based creative practice.

The exhibition runs from 3-26 July at Gallery One, Building 1, Unitec Institute of Technology, Carrington Road, Auckland. The preview night will be held on Tuesday, 2 July at 5.30 pm
Te Tātai o Matariki is part of a week-long programme to be held at Unitec to celebrate Matariki. Other events include a Hāngī, a Wānanga or mini symposium, Raranga whetū (weaving stars) and a guided Hīkoi.

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