About

Working on well-worn rimu floorboards from a Glen Innes state home, artist Natasha Keating re-configures the horizontal floorboards into vertical pou of wāhine. The pou hold space in celebration of womens’ strength and resilience. Wāhine / Wā hine are natural timekeepers, evidenced in monthly cycles and the lunar connections to Maramataka. As the rising of Matariki brings in a New Year, this exhibition of pou wāhine helps to set intention and connection to a Māori lunar calender. They stand in their ability to overcome and survive so much change and struggle, through re-connection to ancestral rhythms and teachings.

Natasha Te Arahori Keating (Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngāi Tuhoe, Te Āti Hau Nui a Pāpārangi) has worked as an artist since 1993. Her work is inspired by both her Māori and European art traditions, they recall memories of both Māori and colonial architecture. Keating creates illustrated pou by drawing, painting and carving on upcycled native timber. Her works use materials from vacated Glen Innes’ state houses, and gives those floorboards a new lease of life, in a powerfully transformational way

Natasha Te Arahori Keating

Natasha Te Arahori Keating (Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngāi Tuhoe, Te Āti Hau Nui a Pāpārangi) has worked as an artist since 1993. Her work is inspired by both her Māori and European art traditions, they recall memories of both Māori and colonial architecture. Keating creates illustrated pou by drawing, painting and carving on upcycled native timber. Her works use materials from vacated Glen Innes’ state houses, and gives those floorboards a new lease of life, in a powerfully transformational way.