Awardee: Tia Barrett (Ngāi Tahu, Waikato, Ngāti Maniapoto), Auckland University of Technology
The Awardee will undertake the Whakaaweawe Impact and Transformation Grant titled Pātaka Wā: storehouse for time.
The recipient is a lecturer in Visual Arts, a lens-based artist, and a PhD candidate at Auckland University of Technology. Their doctoral research explores how time is experienced, told, and embodied within te ao Māori. Their creative practice is grounded in kaupapa Māori and environmental relationships, and they are currently developing a new version of an installation titled Pātaka Wā: a storehouse for time. This work has previously been exhibited and tested and is now being prepared for installation at RM Gallery in Tāmaki Makaurau in 2026.
The grant will support all essential aspects of the Pātaka Wā project, including design, fabrication, testing, installation, and exhibition documentation, ensuring its completion with both creative and cultural integrity. Pātaka Wā focuses on the ecosystem and life cycle of tuna (eels) in Aotearoa, highlighting their migration patterns and long-standing presence across generations.
The installation explores the deep relationship between tuna and people in a Māori context, encouraging reflection on whakapapa (genealogy), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), and the cyclical nature of time. Using video, sculpture, and spatial storytelling, the work honours the mauri (life force) of tuna and the waters they live in, while inviting viewers to consider their own connections to time and the environment. This project is part of a wider exploration into how creative practice can carry and share Indigenous knowledge systems.