POETRY / TE AO MĀORI | ISSUE SEVEN | MATARIKI Written by Koromiko Jacob-Williams (she/her) | @koromikoz | Contributing Writer We are star cluster, sisters He kohinga A collection of light with Magic dusted on eyelids the neon lights glowing Slowing Time We watch the sky blackout Midnight matching our cycles It is quiet and chaotic Te Marama, a guide We change We wane We take over the city connected Hei kotahi We return to each other under the blanket of hōtoke And

TE AO MĀORI | ISSUE SEVEN | MATARIKI Written by AUT MĀORI and Breana-Ann Kaponga @autmaori and Breana-Ann Kaponga @kxpnga Kua haehae ngā hihi o MatarikiThe rays of Matariki are spread This Matariki artwork was commissioned by the Pou Māori team at AUT. Each tau hōu (new year), nine artworks are commissioned to celebrate the rising of Matariki. Each artwork is downloadable and accompanied by a scannable QR code containing information about the star cluster. They encourage you

Different, Unusual, Abnormal, Changed. INTERVIEW / TE AO MĀORI | ISSUE SEVEN | MATARIKI A kōrero with Emily Lyall (she/her) @teaoemily on her programme Rerekē as the 2026 Artspace Aotearoa curatorial intern. Interviewed by Skye Lunson-Storey (they/them) | Arts, Culture, Te Ao Māori Editor The concept of Rerekē encourages artists to be "bold, weird, and different." Expanding on three toi Māori categories, what does being rerekē mean to you personally, and how has that idea sha

Written by Piremina Ngapera (she/her) | @piremina | Contributing Writer Illustration by Maia Staples-Fletcher (she/her) | @maia_sfletch | Contributing Artist Long before calendars were fixed on walls and screens, my tiipuna looked to the eastern horizon before dawn, where Matariki returned with the midwinter sky. Its rising marks the close of one year and the beginning of another. Yet to call it simply "the Maaori New Year" feels incomplete. Across Aotearoa, not every iwi wa

TE AO MĀORI | ISSUE SEVEN | MATARIKI Written by Taigaga (Jamal) Rerecich (he/him) | @417mal | Contributing Writer Matariki 2026 carries the theme Herenga Waka - For Everyone, and the question that theme invites, if we are being honest about the political moment it lands in, is whose "everyone" is being offered and on what terms. The public holiday passed into law in 2022 without the support of National or ACT, both of whom now govern. In the same parliamentary term, those par

FEATURE / TE AO MĀORI | ISSUE SEVEN | MATARIKI Written by Ivy Lyden-Hancy (she/her/ia | Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Wairere, Tūkorehe, Samoa (Falefā), Tonga (Vava’u) | @tekaraipiture | Contributing Writer Illustration by Maia Staples-Fletcher (she/her) | @maia_sfletch | Contributing Artist I see my family in the stars, from Hokianga to Waikato, we are the stars of Matariki. Our waka wairua as we travel through time. Stuck in it, in the nostalgia, my tupuna, my nanas, my papas,

Toi Māori moving beyond gender TE AO MĀORI | ISSUE SIX | MAHI Ā-RINGA / CRAFT Written by Skye Lunson-Storey (they/them) | Whakatōhea, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Tūwharetoa | @uku_rangi | Arts, Culture, and Te Ao Māori Editor The patience, collective nature, and tactile act of creating with my hands connect me to something larger than myself. In te ao Māori, mahi ā-ringa/mahi toi are not simply artistic practices; they are vessels of whakapapa, preserving pūrākau and carrying th

TE AO MĀORI | ISSUE FIVE | PUORO O AOTEAROA / LOCAL MUSIC Written by Skye Lunson-Storey (she/they/ia) | Whakatōhea, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Tūwharetoa | @uku_rangi | Arts, Culture, and Te Ao Māori Editor I like to think of te hau, the wind, as one of life's first voices. As I close my eyes, I imagine the sounds of Tāwhirimātea singing through the mountainous landscapes of Aotearoa. Breathing mauri through all that te hau touches. From a young age, I have been captivated by th

TE AO MĀORI | ISSUE FIVE | PUORO O AOTEAROA / LOCAL MUSIC Written by Ivy Lyden-Hancy (she/her/ia) | @tekaraipiture | Contributing Writer There has been a wave of new sounds, aesthetics, and lyricism that is reshaping how we, as a nation, see music. Artists nationwide are stepping into their artistry, showing us what the future sound of Aotearoa is. I am privileged to be in spaces surrounded by these talented artists. People I call my friends and family have shaped how I see m

TE AO MĀORI | ISSUE FOUR/20 | RONGO Ā / DRUGS Interview with Anna-Leigh Hodge | Te Rarawa, Ngātiwai Interviewed by Skye Lunson-Storey | Arts, Culture, & Te Ao Māori editor Tū Wairua is a Hauora Māori initiative designed, led, and directed by Māori (Rangiwaho, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri) investigating the safety and effectiveness of administering rongoā Māori psilocybe taonga species to whānau suffering from problematic methamphetamine use (PMU). Skye: Can you share a bit about who you

FEATURE | ISSUE FOUR/20 | RONGO Ā / DRUGS Written by Ivy Lyden-Hancy she/her/ia |Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Wairere, Samoan (Falefā), Tongan (Vava’u) | @tekaraipiture When you cry, we all cry. Intergenerational drug harm within Māori and Pacific families is a collective systemic inequity shaped by colonisation and poverty. Substance use in Indigenous communities is strongly linked to historical trauma and the ongoing impacts of dispossession. For many whānau, drugs become wove

TE AO MĀORI | ISSUE FOUR/20 | RONGO Ā / DRUGS Written by Skye Lunson-Storey she/they/ia | Whakatōhea, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Tūwharetoa | @uku_rangi | Arts, Culture, and Te Ao Māori Editor Rongoā Māori, traditional Māori healing, is more than medicine. It is a holistic practice grounded in whakapapa, wairua, and a deep connection to te taiao. From native plant remedies to mirimiri and spiritual healing, rongoā has long been central to Māori wellbeing. Today, it continue

FEATURE | ISSUE THREE | WHENUA Written by Elise Sadlier (she/her) | @elise_sadlier | Contributing Writer Illustration by Skye Lunson-Storey (she/they/ia) | @uku_rangi E tōku Whenua, Do you hold a place for me still? My ancestors are pressed into the soft moss of the Mangaoporo Valley I circle home like the Kārearea always swooping, never landing It is the east and you are the sun. I spent a month of my summer this year at home, in Gisborne. While I was there, my friend

TE AO MĀORI | ISSUE THREE | WHENUA Written By Ivy Lyden-Hancy (she/her/ia) | Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Wairere, Samoan (Falefā), Tongan (Vava’u) @tekaraipiture | Contributing Writer Kōkōwai, Whenua, Mauri. When I think about whenua and its connection throughout history, I think of kōkōwai. Kōkōwai carries the colour of papa’s first breath. A deep, iron-rich red that binds Māori to the land, to their whakapapa, and to the pulse of mauri: the life force that threads through a

The tears of Ranginui TE AO MĀORI | ISSUE THREE | WHENUA Written by Skye Lunson-Storey (she/they/ia) | Whakatōhea, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Tūwharetoa | @uku_rangi Arts, Culture, and Te Ao Māori Editor Concrete weeps. Steel remembers. Water carries the weight of what we’ve buried. When rain falls in Tāmaki Makaurau, it carries the memory of wetlands drained, rivers forced underground, and land reshaped by colonial infrastructure. My recent artworks explore these relationshi