Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tāmaki Appoints Nathan Pōhio As Senior Curator, Māori Art

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki has appointed Nathan Pōhio (Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu) to the role of Senior Curator, Māori Art. Pōhio brings almost 20 years of experience working in galleries, including six years in curatorial positions.

As Senior Curator, Māori Art, Pōhio will help develop and manage the Gallery’s collection of artworks by Māori artists, as well as those depicting Māori people, researching, displaying and interpreting the collection for the benefit of all.

‘This is a key curatorial role at the Gallery and in the Māori arts sector more broadly. I’m delighted Nathan has accepted this senior position and look forward to his future projects at the Gallery,’ says Auckland Art Gallery Director Kirsten Lacy.

Pōhio was appointed to the role by a panel comprising Director Kirsten Lacy, Deputy Director Tom Irvine (Ngāti Whātua), Head of Kaupapa Māori Te Arepa Morehu (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi), Head of Curatorial & Learning Dr Sarah Farrar, and artist and longstanding Haerewa member Lisa Reihana (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāi Tūteauru, Ngāi Tūpoto).

Since 2015, Pōhio has been part of the curatorial team at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. While there, his focus has been to increase the presence of Toi Māori, Toi Moana Nui a Kiwa within exhibitions, collections, publications and public programmes.

This has included conceiving and carrying out the cultural responsibility for Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania, a two-year-long exhibition with Aotearoa and Te Moana Nui a Kiwa at the centre of art historical narratives from Aotearoa New Zealand.

‘I have been formed professionally over nineteen years at Te Puna o Waiwhetū Christchurch Art Gallery and feel confident Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery’s needs are something I am qualified to contribute towards,’ says Pōhio.

‘I feel fortunate to have known past Directors and very much look forward to working with Director Kirsten Lacy. I have a huge respect for the staff and local art galleries and institutions within and around Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Good friends once worked in the capacity I will be picking up at Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery and I hope to expand upon what they pushed for: a wide-reaching view on the depth of Māori art.’

Pōhio will also work closely with the Gallery’s Head of Kaupapa Māori, Te Arepa Morehu, and with Haerewa, which works in partnership to raise the profile of Māori art at the Gallery and to foster an environment that encourages Māori engagement and visitation.

‘I am ecstatic that Nathan will soon be joining our Toi o Tāmaki whānau. I can’t wait to find ways in which we can help each other create great opportunities for Toi Māori and Māori artists, further sharing that with Aotearoa, puta atu ki te ao – with Aotearoa and the rest of the world,’ says Te Arepa Morehu, Head of Kaupapa Māori at Auckland Art Gallery.

Recruitment to the role invited applications from those in curatorial and senior curatorial capacities, and Pōhio will commence as Senior Curator, Māori Art on 8 February 2022, reporting to Dr Sarah Farrar, Head of Curatorial & Learning.

One of Pōhio’s first projects with his new colleagues, will be Toi Te Kupu, a major Māori art symposium. Toi Te Kupu will be positioned within a kaupapa Māori paradigm that validates te reo Māori me ōna tikanga – Māori language and culture, beliefs, values and practices. The symposium aims to celebrate and showcase the transformative power of mātauranga Māori as expressed through art, exhibition-making and wider creative practices.

Toi Te Kupu will be held over two days, 15-16 June 2022, in Tāmaki Makaurau. More announcements about this symposium will be made in early 2022.

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Kua tohua Te Toi o Tāmaki a Nathan Pōhio hei Senior Curator, Māori Art

Kua tohua Te Toi o Tāmaki a Nathan Pōhio (o Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu) ki te tūranga, Senior Curator, Māori Art. Kua 20 tau a Pōhio e mahi ana ki ngā whare toi, ā, kua ono tau i ngā tūranga kaitiaki toi.

I tēnei tūranga, Senior Curator, Māori Art, ka āwhina a Pōhio ki te whakawhanake me te whakahaere i ngā kohinga o ngā ringatoi Māori, ngā toi e whakaahuatia ana te tangata Māori, te rangahau, te whakaatu me te whakamārama i ngā kohinga mō te painga o te katoa.

‘He mea hira te tūranga kaitiaki nei ki te Whare Toi, ā, ki roto anō i te ao toi Māori. E hari ana au i whakaae a Nathan ki tēnei tūranga matua, ā, tāria ka kite i āna mahi ki te Whare Toi,’ hei tā Kirsten Lacy, Director Toi o Tāmaki.

I tohu te pae whiriwhiri i a Pōhio ki tēnei tūranga, ā, ko te Director Kirsten Lacy, Deputy Director Tom Irvine (Ngāti Whātua), Head of Kaupapa Māori Te Arepa Morehu (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi), Head of Curatorial & Learning Dr Sarah Farrar, me te ringatoi, te mema tūngaroa o Haerewa, a Lisa Reihana (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāi Tūteauru, Ngāi Tūpoto).

Mai i te tau 2015, kua noho a Pōhio ki te ohu kaitiaki ki te Whare Toi o Ōtautahi, Te Puna o Waiwhetū. I reira, ko tōna aronga he whakapiki i ngā Toi Māori, ngā Toi Moana Nui a Kiwa anō hoki i roto i ngā whakakitenga, ngā kohinga, ngā whakaputanga me ngā mahi hāpori.

Ko ia anō i whakatū, i whakahaere i ngā kawenga ahurea mō Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania, he whakakitenga e rua tau te roa, ā, ko Aotearoa, ko Te Moana Nui a Kiwa kei te manawa o ngā kōrero hītori ā-toi mai i Aotearoa.

‘He mea whakatipu au i ngā tau tekau mā iwa, ki Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Te Whare Toi o Ōtautahi, ā, e whakapono ana au ko ngā wawata ō te Toi o Tāmaki, he mea kua pūkengatia au, ā, ka whai wāhi anō au ki te toro atu,’ hei tā Pōhio.

‘He waimārie nōku te mōhio ki ētahi o ngā Directors o mua, ā, tāria te mahi tahi me Director Kirsten Lacy. He nui tōku whakaute ki ngā kaimahi, ngā whare toi hāpori me ngā rōpū o Tāmaki Makaurau. Ka hiki au i te mānuka nā ōku hoa tata i waiho mai i te Toi o Tāmaki, ā, e wawata nui ana kia whakawhānui i ā rātou mahi: he tirohanga whānui ki te hōhonutanga o te ao toi Māori.'

Ka mahi tahi a Pōhio rāua ko te Head of Kaupapa Māori o te Toi o Tāmaki, a Te Arepa Morehu, me Haerewa. He mea whakahoa ki te hiki i te pūkete o ngā toi Māori i te Whare Toi me te whakatipu i tētahi āhuatanga ki te whakatenatena hononga ki te Māori.

‘Koa katoa te ngākau i te hononga mai o Nathan ki te whānau o te Toi o Tāmaki. Tāria ake te whakatewhatewha i ngā huarahi e taea e tāua te whakarite kaupapa pai mō ngā toi Māori, ngā ringatoi Māori, mō Aotearoa, ā, puta atu ki te ao,’ hei tā Te Arepa Morehu, Head of Kaupapa Māori ki te Toi o Tāmaki.

He mea pōhiri ngā whakaurunga mō tēnei tūranga ki te hunga kaitiaki toi, kaitiaki toi matua anō hoki. Ka tīmata a Pōhio ki tōna tūranga, Senior Curator, Māori Art ā te 8 o Hui-tanguru 2022, i raro i te maru o Dr. Sarah Farrar Head of Curatorial & Learning.

Ko tētahi o āna mahi tuatahi me ōna hoa mahi hou, ko Toi Te Kupu, he wānanga toi Māori. Ka tū a Toi Te Kupu ki roto i ngā āhuatanga Māori, e mana ai te reo Māori me ōna tikanga. Ko te aronga matua o te wānanga ki te whakanui, ki te whakaputa i te awe o te mātauranga Māori mā roto i te toi, i te whakatū whakakitenga me ngā tikanga auaha.

Ka tū a Toi Te Kupu mō ngā rā e rua, 15-16 Pipiri 2022, ki Tāmaki Makaurau. Ka puta anō he kōrero mō tēnei wānanga ā te tīmatatanga o te tau 2022.

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