Current Exhibition

Paraire 25 Hūrae -
Hātarei 6 Hepetema

Friday 25 July -
Saturday 6 September

2025

Exhibition opening: Thursday, July 24 5:30pm.

What does it mean to be connected to whenua, to our whakapapa, to our tūpuna?

What is important to carry, protect and nurture for the future?

What does this require of us? What are our obligations, what are the obligations of our children?

We are all connected. We are Te Taiao.

What does it actually mean to keep the home fires burning?

He Hokinga Mahara is grounded in values of manaakitaka, whanaukataka, commitment, belonging, laughter and love. It brings together artworks from Melanie Tangaere Baldwin and Georgina May Young made in dialogue with each other, their whānau, atua, ancestors and pūrakau. Taking their lived experiences of society and the world as it is today, both artists reimagine and dream of new futures, while looking to examples of adaptability and transformation held by the past.

Transformation occurs across Whakatiputipu as plants grow from held vessels, celestial bodies shift from day to night, weather comes and goes and lifeforms of Te Taiao morph between beings with elemental and cosmic features. Young’s painting with natural materials and dyes, embroidery and weaving with gathered houhere and muka, digital animation from her son Rocko Neon Young Norling and an atmospheric soundtrack from her partner Sean Norling combine together; the artwork becoming materially shape-shifting itself. The figures depicted across Whakatiputipu are kaitiaki drawn from atua and tūpuna connected to Ōhiwa marae near Ōpōtiki, where Young grew up and where she and her whānau have whakapapa.

Ahikāroa! invokes Mahuika - a warming, life-sustaining atua who holds potential for both fiery destruction and renewal. Tangaere Baldwin looks to Mahuika as an atua wāhine the world needs. Her installation references heraldic and sacred iconography with Āio, her daughter, flanking a central shrine. Ahi kā are the home fires and the people who keep them alight. Their long, continual burning signifies occupation of, and connection to, land. The question of our obligations to ahi kā, land and each other, and how these are passed on and in turn become our children’s obligations is felt throughout Ahikāroa! A feeling of our need to put faith in radical futures that hold capacity for love, empathy and dreaming.

At the heart of He Hokinga Mahara is whanaukataka — the constant transfer of energy, care and responsibility between each other and Te Taiao. In Young’s words: “Whānau is not a fixed shape. It stretches, transforms, expands and contracts with time, distance, reconnection.”

Installation view at opening event, 2025.

Photo: Jordan Davey-Emms

Instalation view, 2025.

Photo: Alex Lovell-Smith

Melanie Tangaere Baldwin + Āio, *Ahikāroa!* Mixed media installation, custom LED, hand and machine sewn textile, manipulated digital video, soundtrack featuring Toki Moana, 2025.

Photo: Alex Lovell-Smith

Melanie Tangaere Baldwin + Āio, *Ahikāroa!* (detail). Mixed media installation, custom LED, hand and machine sewn textile, manipulated digital video, soundtrack featuring Toki Moana, 2025.

Photo: Alex Lovell-Smith

Georgina May Young + Rocko Neon Young Norling, *Whakatiputipu*. Linen, houhere coloured with manono, muka stitching, uku, indigo, madder, coreopsis, curcuma, buckthorn berries, tanekaha, manuka, kauri gum, arabic gum, digital animation by Rocko Neon Young Norling, soundtrack by Sean Norling, 2025.

Photo by Alex Lovell-Smith

Georgina May Young + Rocko Neon Young Norling, *Whakatiputipu* (detail). Linen, houhere coloured with manono, muka stitching, uku, indigo, madder, coreopsis, curcuma, buckthorn berries, tanekaha, manuka, kauri gum, arabic gum, digital animation by Rocko Neon Young Norling, soundtrack by Sean Norling, 2025.

Photo by Alex Lovell-Smith

Installation view, 2025.

Photo by Alex Lovell-Smith

Installation view at opening event, 2025.

Photo: Jordan Davey-Emms

Instalation view, 2025.

Photo: Alex Lovell-Smith

Melanie Tangaere Baldwin + Āio, Ahikāroa! Mixed media installation, custom LED, hand and machine sewn textile, manipulated digital video, soundtrack featuring Toki Moana, 2025.

Photo: Alex Lovell-Smith

Melanie Tangaere Baldwin + Āio, Ahikāroa! (detail). Mixed media installation, custom LED, hand and machine sewn textile, manipulated digital video, soundtrack featuring Toki Moana, 2025.

Photo: Alex Lovell-Smith

Melanie Tangaere Baldwin + Āio, Ahikāroa! (detail). Mixed media installation, custom LED, hand and machine sewn textile, manipulated digital video, soundtrack featuring Toki Moana, 2025.

Photo: Alex Lovell-Smith

Melanie Tangaere Baldwin + Āio, Ahikāroa! (detail). Mixed media installation, custom LED, hand and machine sewn textile, manipulated digital video, soundtrack featuring Toki Moana, 2025.

Photo: Alex Lovell-Smith

Georgina May Young + Rocko Neon Young Norling, Whakatiputipu. Linen, houhere coloured with manono, muka stitching, uku, indigo, madder, coreopsis, curcuma, buckthorn berries, tanekaha, manuka, kauri gum, arabic gum, digital animation by Rocko Neon Young Norling, soundtrack by Sean Norling, 2025.

Photo by Alex Lovell-Smith

Georgina May Young + Rocko Neon Young Norling, Whakatiputipu. Linen, houhere coloured with manono, muka stitching, uku, indigo, madder, coreopsis, curcuma, buckthorn berries, tanekaha, manuka, kauri gum, arabic gum, digital animation by Rocko Neon Young Norling, soundtrack by Sean Norling, 2025.

Photo by Alex Lovell-Smith

Georgina May Young + Rocko Neon Young Norling, Whakatiputipu (detail). Linen, houhere coloured with manono, muka stitching, uku, indigo, madder, coreopsis, curcuma, buckthorn berries, tanekaha, manuka, kauri gum, arabic gum, digital animation by Rocko Neon Young Norling, soundtrack by Sean Norling, 2025.

Photo by Alex Lovell-Smith

Photo by Jordan Davey-Emms

Installation view, 2025.

Photo by Alex Lovell-Smith

Melanie Tangaere Baldwin

Melanie Tangaere Baldwin (Ngāti Porou) is a māmā, artist and curator based in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa Gisborne. Melanie’s work is largely focused on Mana Wāhine, Indigenous and marginalised peoples, and the effects of capitalism, imperialism and settler colonialism on notions of power, visibility, beauty and worth. Her mahi consistently considers the necessity and obligations of connection, whānau and community. A lot of the time she is just trying to make sense of the world.

Georgina May Young

Georgina May Young (Te Ūpokorehe, Te Whakatōhea, Pākehā) was born in Ōpōtiki and is now based in Ōtepoti. Young constructs realms layer by layer in celebration of Te Taiao. A gardener, mother and textile artist, her work moves within whakapapa, cosmic kinship and the memories held in whenua, moana and the stars—tracing ancestral knowledge and potential imagined futures. Rooted in daily ritual and a slow life, her practice rejects capitalist excess in favor of deep connection—honoring process, reciprocity and the mauri of materials. Her works feel as though they belong to an ancient civilization—carried close, found on a hillside, or unearthed from the mud.

Āio

Āio (Ngāti Porou) is Melanie's daughter and her constant muse, teacher and collaborator.

Rocko Neon Young Norling

Rocko Neon Young Norling (Kāti Waewae, Kāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu, Te Ūpokorehe, Te Whakatōhea, Pākehā).

Sean Norling

Sean Norling (Kāti Waewae, Kāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu, Pākehā).

All

Current Exhibition