PUPURITIA is an acknowledgement of the complexity of stories and priorities that make up community in Aotearoa – as told through textile practice. PUPURITIA speaks of the need to perform community; to hold one another with care, love and respect. And to listen.

Works by eighteen makers and their communities hold statements of love, faith, and healing post trauma; calls for attention, outrage, and action in the face of ongoing violence and abuse; gestures of solidarity and connection; symbols of community, of whānau, of rongoā (healing), and of Mātauranga (knowledge). They declare the importance of sharing the knowledge furled within our stories as a means of strengthening our collective future.

The exhibition space, designed with Micheal McCabe, reflects aspects of the wharenui, with artworks acting as pare, pou tokomanawa, and surrounding tukutuku panels (entryway lintel, centre pole and wall panels). The circular display is representative of the enfolding form of a kākahu or cloak. The intention is that this whare, this kākahu, provides a space for the artists to share while held in collective safety and aroha. The space invites others into the narratives too, both to experience a sense of collective responsibility, and to celebrate a diversity of contemporary textile practice in Aotearoa.

PUPURITIA features new and recent works by Catherine August, Roka Hurihia Ngarimu-Cameron MNZM, Quishile Charan, Claudette Collis, Sudi Dargipour, Steven Junil Park, Georgina May Young, Noraini Milne, Tehani Ngapare Rau-Te-Tara Buchanan and Ngapare Poko Taua, Shiloh Sagapolu, Lema Shamamba, Salome Tanuvasa, Momoe i manu ae ala atea’e Tasker, Maungarongo Te Kawa, Jasmine Tuiā, Cora-Allan, Whiro Walker and Arielle Walker. 

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Melanie Tangaere Baldwin (Ngāti Porou) is a māmā, artist and curator based in Tūranga Nui a Kiwa Gisborne. Her work is largely focused on Mana Wāhine, Indigenous and marginalised peoples, and the effects of capitalism, imperialism and settler colonialism on notions of power, visibilty, beauty and worth. She is interested in expressing the necessity of connection, whānau, and community through her mahi. Tangaere Baldwin has always considered textiles in the context of whānau, storytelling and beauty, whether it be the intensively woven wharenui Rakaitemania at Te Horo Marae in the Waiapu valley, her parents collections of southern African wall hangings and Pakistani rugs, the cherished box of her nanny’s unfinished tāniko, her Grandma’s sewing machine in the hallway, or the animal print mink blankets that wrap her and her cousins when they lie around watching TV.