AWA (Artists for Waiapu Action)
By Ruth McDougall
‘11th Asia Pacific Triennial’ August 2024
AWA (Artists for Waiapu Action)
Established 2023, Aotearoa New Zealand
Natalie Robertson
Ngāti Pōkai, Ngāti Porou, Clann Dhònnchaidh
Born 1962, Kawerau, Aotearoa New Zealand
Lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand
Graeme Atkins
Ngāti Pōkai, Ngāti Porou, Rongomaiwahine
Born 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
Born 1965, Gisborne, Aotearoa New Zealand
Lives and works in Ruatorea, Aotearoa New Zealand
WITH
Alex Monteith
Clan Mitchell, Clan Monteith
Born 1977, Béal Feirste (Belfast), Na Sé Chontae (Northern Ireland)
Lives and works Piha and Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand
Maree Sheehan
Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Clan Sheehan, Clan Marshall
Born 1969, Leeston, Aotearoa New Zealand
Lives and works Whāingaroa and Kirikiriroa, Aotearoa New Zealand
Abraham Karaka
Ngāti Māui, Ngāti Putaanga, Te Whānau a Hinerupe, Te Kai Tutae
Born 1975, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand
Lives and works Te Araroa, Aotearoa New Zealand
This project was assisted by Ngā Pae o Maramatanga (New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence), Creative New Zealand, Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau / Auckland University of Technology, Waipapa Taumata Rau / University of Auckland, Te Wananga o Aotearoa and Raukūmara Pae Maunga.
Works from AWA's He Uru Mānuka, He Uru Kānuka 2024 project, installed for the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial, GOMA, January 2025 / Mixed media / Courtesy and © The artists / Photograph: N Umek, QAGOMA
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’.
