Māpuna for Saturday 25 March 2023

Matariki Williams: Māori Arts, ATE, and protest through art.

Matariki Williams (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Hauiti, Taranaki) is a Whakatāne-based writer, curator, and historian. 

She is the co-founder and co-editor of ATE Journal of Māori Art alongside Bridget Reweti. The journal was set up to create a space for conversations about Māori art from a Māori perspective.

Matariki Williams, co-founder and co-editor of ATE Journal of Māori Art, speaks to Māpuna's Julian Wilcox from her backyard in Whakatāne. Photo: RNZ / Jamie Tahana

"It's just very apparent if you look through any library of New Zealand art how few Māori artists are represented, how few Māori are written about," Williams tells Māpuna. 

"We need space in the canon as well. We need our people to be able to learn about our artists and for us to be able to hold that space."

Williams is also co-author of the book Protest: Tautohetohe: Objects of Resistance, Persistence and Defiance, published in 2019. 

From her Whakatāne backyard, in the warming autumn sun beneath a bountiful feijoa tree, Matariki Williams talks about ATE, Māori artists, and the contemporary world of Māori art. 

She also speaks about Māori art as a form of protest and advocacy. 

Photo: RNZ / Jamie Tahana