Natalie Robertson, Ngāti Pōkai, Ngāti Porou, Clann Dhònnchaidh, b.1962, Kawerau, Aotearoa New Zealand, Lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand / Graeme Atkins, Ngāti Pōkai, Ngāti Porou, Rongomaiwahine, b.1966, Gisborne, Aotearoa New Zealand, Lives and works in Tīkapa, Aotearoa New Zealand / Lionel Matenga, Ngāti Pōkai, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa ki Pouakani, b.1965, Gisborne, Aotearoa New Zealand, Lives and works in Ruatorea, Aotearoa New Zealand

WITH: Alex Monteith, Clan Mitchell, Clan Monteith, b.1977, Béal Feirste (Belfast), Na Sé Chontae (Northern Ireland), Lives and works in Piha and Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand / Maree Sheehan, Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Clan Sheehan, Clan Marshall, b.1969, Leeston, Aotearoa New Zealand, Lives and works in Whāingaroa and Kirikiriroa, Aotearoa New Zealand / Abraham Karaka, Ngāti Māui, Ngāti Putaanga, Te Whānau a Hinerupe, Te Kai Tutae, b.1975, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand, Lives and works in Te Araroa, Aotearoa New Zealand

Artists for Waiapu Action — shortened to AWA, which also means ‘river’ in te reo Māori — is a collaboration between photographer and scholar Natalie Robertson and tohunga taiao restoration ecologist (knowledgeable ecologist) Graeme Atkins, formed to advance action for the Waiapu river from the mountains to the sea through art. Robertson and Atkins share whakapapa (genealogy) to Te Whānau a Pōkai-Pōhatu and Tīkapa Marae, a hapū (sub-tribe) of Ngāti Porou. For their project in the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial, they collaborate with Lionel Matenga, also of Ngāti Pōkai, a tohunga whakairo (skilled carver) and net-weaver. Abraham Karaka brings language and histories, Alex Monteith creates underwater videos and Maree Sheehan generates sonic landscapes.

For their installation He Uru Mānuka, He Uru Kānuka 2024, AWA revitalises customary net-making and stone fishing weir-building, enabling members of their hapū (clan) and iwi (tribe) to reconnect with the river and its health. They aim ‘to “re-story” lifeways, linking creative practices with ecology to perpetuate cultural and environmental relationships to the lower reaches of the Waiapu’.

This project was assisted by Radio Ngāti Porou, Te Amokura Productions, Australia’s Mānuka, Just Thinking Out Loud, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongerewa, Ngā Pae o Maramatanga (New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence), Creative New Zealand, Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau / AUT University, Waipapa Taumata Rau / University of Auckland, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and Raukūmara Pae Maunga.