Tairāwhiti Arts Festival: Introducing more artists set to shine at Gisborne festival

Artist Renee McDonald's installation acts as a visual call for the younger generation to return to their marae, the hui and the mahi.

The Tairāwhiti Arts Festival runs from September 26 to October 5 and once again features Te Ara i Whiti (light trail), a free interactive visual arts experience comprising illuminated installations and sculptural works created by a group of 11 Aotearoa artists. The kaupapa for Te Ara i Whiti is “o mātou tūmanako – our dreams”. It has been curated by Melanie Tangaere in collaboration with lighting designer Angus Muir and will be installed at Kelvin Park and Marina Park. In the lead-up to the festival, the exhibiting artists introduce themselves and their work.

Renee McDonald

Renee McDonald is an emerging Māori artist with proud roots in Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Kahungunu. She was born and raised in Sydney.

A recent graduate of Toihoukura, her artistic journey is one of rediscovery, as she delves into her Māoritanga through her craft, while also nurturing her pēpi within Te Ao Māori.

Renee’s toi is not just a reflection of her personal exploration, but also a celebration of identity, culture and her enduring love for her ūkaipo.

Her Te Ara i Whiti work is titled He kapu tī māu?

“In early 2025, I attended my first marae hui at Mangahanea and made a quick observation: the absence of rangatahi around the table,” Renee says.

“This installation, He kapu tī māu?, built to replicate a tepu (table), acts as a visual and symbolic call for our younger generation to return to the pae — to their marae, to the hui, to the kōrero, and to the mahi.

“This tepu embodies wānanga — a site of learning, laughter, debate, kai and connection. It speaks directly to the kaupapa Ō Mātou Tūmanako - our collective hope that rangatahi will return home, reconnect, and take their seat at the table. But before anything else, He kapu tī māu?"

Artists Hineani Roberts & Rachel Shearer have created a work that combines sound and moving images called Pipitairi i Taruheru Pipitairi i Taruheru, part of Te Ara i Whiti at Tairawhiti Arts Festival.

Rachel + Hineani

Tāmaki Makaurau-based Rachel Shearer (Rongowhakaata, Te Aitanga a Māhaki) explores listening to the earth through Māori and Western philosophies and technologies. Over 30 years, she has worked across experimental music, field recording, embodied listening, sound and spatial design, multi-channel installation, moving image and writing.

Hineani Roberts (Rongowhakaata, Te Aitanga a Māhaki) lives in Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa. Her creative practice spans moving image, projection, digital printmaking, and design, informed by te ao Māori design principles. Hineani brings cultural motifs into dialogue with contemporary digital processes, creating works where ancestral patterns meet modern technologies.

Their Te Ara i Whiti work is titled Pipitairi i Taruheru Pipitairi i Taruheru

Pipitairi i Taruheru Pipitairi i Taruheru is a collaborative installation acknowledging the taniwha Pipitaiari, through sound, projection and imagery.

Once known as the sweet-smelling river for the moss that grew in abundance along its banks, the Taruheru was prosperous with small tuna, shellfish and numerous weka and pūkeko.

Pipitaiari is one of Rongowhakaata’s most enduring taniwha, whose influence cleanses and heals. At times, she revealed herself as a whirlpool, a gesture echoed in the installation. Within 250 years, colonisation, sewage and pollution have stripped the river of its vitality, driving the sacred Taruheru herb to extinction and earning the awa the name “stinking river”. However, the source still runs pure and clean: “He urutapu, pari kārangaranga! Whakatangatangahia aku here! Tukuna atu au kia rere!” (I am pure, I call resoundingly, release my bonds, And set me free!)

At the heart of the work is a waiata composed and performed by Teina Moetara (Rongowhakaata, Ngā Puhi) that acknowledges our deep connection to Pipitaiari.

Moving images by Hineani Roberts and sound by Rachel Shearer create an immersive realm that reconnects audiences to Pipitaiari, acknowledging her enduring presence and calling for the return of mauri and mana to the awa.

Huriana's work Bite Back is part of Te Ara i Whiti at the Tairawhiti Arts Festival.

Huriana Kopeke-Te Aho

Huriana is a self-taught artist and illustrator whose work is primarily influenced by their whakapapa Māori, takatāpui identity and political beliefs.

At the centre of their artistic practice is a deep and fierce aroha/alofa for their people, and they aim to create imagery that speaks to the political and social struggles of their communities.

Their Te Ara i Whiti work is titled Bite Back! (Te Nguha o Ngā Taniwha)

Bite Back! (Te Nguha o Ngā Taniwha) is a public declaration of love and support for, and unapologetic celebration of, our beloved irawhiti community.

“The whakapapa of tangata irawhiti within Te Ao Māori has been distorted through the process of colonisation. This work is an attempt to reconnect,” Huriana says.

“It is also representative of the dreams I hold for all of us. May we be granted peace, protection, abundance, freedom and joy in this life, and the next and the next and the next.

“May we find home and belonging wherever we are. This work is an offering of deep-seated love for both my irawhiti identity and my whakapapa, all of which are interconnected.”

Te Karureremoa's work Lovers blends sound, image and scent, part of Te Ara i Whiti the light trail starting tonight.

Te Kahureremoa

Te Kahureremoa is a singer, composer, tāonga pūoro practitioner, traditional storyteller, animator and video maker. Her whānau is the love of her life and everything she does as an artist is to feed into the puna matauranga for her whānau as both descendant and future ancestor.

Her Te Ara i Whiti work is titled Lovers

Lovers is an audio-visual installation that centres on Raukatauri, atua of music.

The work draws audiences into a contemplative reverie as Raukatauri becomes entranced by Hina-i-te-Rākaunui. From this moment of enchantment arises song. Her voice carried on the wind, calling a lover who is guided back to her by its beauty.

Blending sound, image and scent, Lovers creates a multisensory environment that invites audiences to pause, immerse and connect.

It offers a moment of stillness to experience oro and pūrakau in a way that is both intimate and expansive, foregrounding the romance and vitality inherent in our taiao.