Mataaho Collective | Aotearoa | Est. 2012

Mataaho are a collective of four Māori women artists who have been making large-scale installations for over a decade. They produce works with a single collective authorship and their conceptual framework is grounded in Māori knowledge systems, specifically informed by Te Whare Pora the customary arts of Māori weaving and textile practices. In 2024 they were awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, became Arts Foundation Laureates in 2022, and received the Walters Prize in 2021 for their work Atapō, made in collaboration with Maureen Lander.

Paul Darragh is a visual artist based in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand. His work encompasses painting, outdoor installations, and sculpture.

Darragh’s formal art education began with studies in Media Arts at Waikato Polytechnic. He later attended the Bachelor of Design program at Massey University, Wellington. 

His professional career started in Melbourne as an Art Director in fashion editorial. In 2007, he moved to New York City, working in branding and motion design for the entertainment industry. In 2010, Darragh established his own studio and gallery, “Manhattan Born,” in New York’s East Village.

After a decade in New York, Darragh returned to Aotearoa in 2017 to focus on painting full-time. Since then, he has exhibited throughout the North Island and overseas. He has been selected as a finalist in several national art awards, including the New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award, the Adam Art Award, and The Molly Morpeth Canaday Award. 

Darragh’s work, informed by his global experiences and rooted in his New Zealand heritage, continues to evolve, contributing to the contemporary art scene both locally and abroad.

To come...

Dr. Jeremy Mayall is the CEO of Creative Waikato - a regional arts organisation. He is also a composer, performer, artist, and researcher from Kirikiriroa-Hamilton, NZ. His creative work is primarily in music, sound art, installation and multimedia formats, with a focus on exploring the interrelationships between sound, time, space, the senses, and the human experience. Collaboration is at the core of much of his multi-sensory work, and recent projects have included work with musicians, dancers, poets, aerial silks performers, theatre practitioners, scientists, perfumers, bakers, authors, sculptors, filmmakers, pyrotechnicians, lighting designers and visual artists. As the CEO of Creative Waikato, he works to advocate for the value and importance of arts, culture and creativity to collective wellbeing. This organisation is a strategic capability builder who work throughout the Waikato region. They celebrate the importance of creativity, wellbeing and people in working towards a Waikato Region that thrives with diverse and transformative creative activity.

To come...

To come...