Te Maari, Te Ahorangi Grace Rangitauninihi Tūī (Emeritus Professor Grace Rangitauninihi Tūī), 2020

Felt, wool with mohair (knitted elements), cotton (embroidery)

36 x 10 x 6 cm (approx)

Te Maari, Te Kōkako, 2018

Felt, wool with mohair (knitted elements), cotton (embroidery)

36 x 10 x 6 cm

Private View 5 May – 26 October 2026

Toi Tauranga Art Gallery 108 Willow Street Tauranga 3141 Enter from Masonic Park

Open daily 10am – 4pm

Private View opens the door to some very special artworks drawn from private homes across Tauranga Moana.

Hung and clustered around dining tables and in the heart of living rooms, these artworks carry stories of their makers and their collectors. A Toss Woollaston painting that was a gift from a father to a daughter; two sisters who meet Reuben Paterson in his New York studio as he is making an artwork glimmer; a protest piece by Ralph Hotere, that reminds the collector of their brother’s career as an All Black in the 70s and the political uproars of the time; manu (bird) figures, created by an artist named Te Maari, who receives personal letters and creates artefacts based on the stories they receive — and many other precious belongings on display.

Together with furniture, lighting and rugs curated by interior designer Kathrine McDonald and supplied by exceptional designers from Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond, Private View invites us to consider the conversations between art, interiors, and everyday life.

Hongerwinter is a stapled, A5-sized publication accompanying the exhibition at Envy gallery, Wellington. Organised by Mokopōpaki, the exhibition featured sculptural work by Yllwbro, A.A.M. Bos, Dr P and Te Maari.

Since 2017, the Auckland-based Mokopōpaki has variously operated as a dealer gallery, exhibition committee and publisher: ‘We are a critical collective or whānau who want to make “art for people” accessible. We apply Māori approaches to exhibition-making and the production of artwork. We work together to encourage and support emergent and established artists from across the generations.’

Their exhibition catalogues are often self-published and limited-edition booklets in various formats which elucidate and expand on the practices of represented artists. 

Hongerwinter is presented in a plastic slip that has been screen-printed to look like a Vogel’s mixed grain bag, with Dr P’s Very Thin Vogels, 2024 seemingly stamped on top.

The introductory text expresses artist A.A.M. Bos’s appreciation for sparrows – their ubiquity and tenacity, and as a symbol of peace and plenty for the artist’s mother who lived through devastation and famine during World War II in the Netherlands. The nursery rhyme ‘Mary, Mary Quite Contrary’ is broken down line by line as an apparently innocuous verse containing layers of disturbing historical fact and imagery relating to Mary Tudor (1516–1558). Yllwbro authors a conversation between siblings Kōkako and Miss Wētā, observing the dust-bathing habits of the migrant sparrows.

Reading this little publication is like being thrown from a garden into the bush then back onto the lawn, with a dizzying array of references seamlessly woven through its otherwise modest pages.

Hongerwinter is a new book, co-published by Mokopōpaki and Envy to accompany the exhibition by Yllwbro, A.A.M. Bos, Dr P and Te Maari at Envy, Wellington.

Hongerwinter (2024) ka puta mai i WARY—A Survey (2018) ki Mokopōpaki, Ākarana.

Title: Hongerwinter Creator: Yllwbro, A.A.M. Bos, Dr P, Te Maari, authors; Mokopōpaki, author Contributor: Mokopōpaki, issuing body; Envy, issuing body Series: Mokopōpaki (Series), 10 May–8 June 2024 Publisher: Auckland, New Zealand: Mokopōpaki and Envy ISSN: 2537-8783 Publication Date: May 2024 Format: 24 pages; 21 cm Edition: 200 Notes: Screenprinted bag made by Greg Thomas