Tuesday 16 July - Saturday 10 August

A sentiment that is being shared within our community, particularly within Te Ao Maori with the large protests and activation gatherings opposing the current political threat to indigenous hauora (wellbeing) and sovereignty.

We are all living in a world where we need to uplift and care for each other with respect and dignity.

Messini Palace is a self-taught artist who works from her Avondale art studio in Auckland.

Her cast sculpture and visual art is deeply intertwined with her own whakapapa journey, which escalated in a powerful way returning after 20 years to Aotearoa in 2017, meeting and uniting with her Ngāti Apakura iwi and Whanaunga.

Messinis’s pieces represent a merging of traditional Toi Māori (vintage and new whakairo rakau) with modern mediums and vibrant colours. This contemporary urban angle is an expression of who Messini is, her Māori and Pākeha whakapapa and a connection between the past and the present.

Messini was recently invited by renowned contemporary Maori painter Darcy Nicholas and Toi Māori Aotearoa to exhibit some of her work at the TSB Art Show in Wellington.

Messini and Te Māreikura's mutual admiration and affinity for each others mahi quickly transpired into brainstorming and effecting a photographic collaboration. Shot in the scenic, native oasis at Karekare waterfall in the late afternoon, they have created their visions of Messini's shimmering Wheku with stunning Tahitian model Tom Tuarae in a moody dual-realm framework.