Creativity and research are synergistic, enhancing each other through innovative problem-solving, interdisciplinary connections, and impactful communication. Creative thinking sparks novel insights and approaches, fostering experimentation and ethical consideration in advancing knowledge across disciplines. This Paetukutuku webinar focusses on the work of three creative researchers: Photographer, Natalie Robertson; animator, Zak Waipara; and painter, Zena Elliott. Each speaker will discuss the research foundation of their creative work and reflect on how they intend their artwork to be interpreted, the messages they hope to convey, or the dialogue they aim to spark with viewers.

Speakers

Natalie Robertson

Photographer (Ngāti Porou, Clann Dhònnchaidh)

Centring Waiapu—the ancestral river of Ngāti Porou—world-famous for its erosion — much of Natalie’s creative practice and research is based in Te Tai Rāwhiti, her East Coast Ngāti Porou homelands, to advance Māori counter-narratives to settler-colonialism. Natalie is a photographer, moving image artist, writer and Associate Professor at AUT University, Auckland, Aotearoa. In 2022, Natalie graduated with a PhD for her thesis Tātara e maru ana: Renewing ancestral connections with the sacred rain cape of Waiapu Kōkā Hūhua through the University of Auckland. She contributed extensively to the book Hei Taonga Mā Ngā Uri Whakatipu–Treasures for the rising generation: The Dominion Museum Ethnological Expeditions 1919-1923 published (November 2021) by Te Papa Press. Recent exhibitions include Tātara e maru ana—The sacred rain cape of Waiapu at Adam Art Gallery, Wellington April–June 2022; Toi Tū, Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art at Auckland Art Gallery 2020-21.

Zak Waipara

Animator, film maker·(Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Ruapani, Ngāti Kahungunu)

Zak is a filmmaker, animator and senior lecturer in Digital Media at AUT. Prior to this he worked for the New Zealand Herald as graphic artist and HOD of Animation at Animation College. He has worked as a designer for Māori Television’s children’s show Miharo, illustrated comics and a range of books, and created animated music videos.

Zena Elliott

Painter·(Te Pahipoto, Te Kahupaake, Te Whānau a Tauwhao, Ngāti Rangitihi, Te Whānau ā Haraawaka)

Zena is currently completing a Practice-led PhD at Auckland University of Technology, with a focus on decolonising the myth-information surrounding the perspectives and experiences of wahine kaiwhakairo. Elliott centralises the creative practice of whakairo as an apparatus for mana wāhine storytelling and world-building through the hands of a wahine. Zena is the 2023 New Horizons for Women’s Trust | Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga recipient.