Whakapapa as Ground  

This installation marks Aotearoa as the sovereign ground from which this exhibition unfolds. While the surrounding works bring Indigenous materials, labour, and memory from Abya Yala and Aotearoa into conversation, this space stands on its own. It acknowledges the land that hosts, holds, and makes this gathering possible. This exhibition is an offering to our ancestors, Māori, Nahua, Maya, and all of those whose knowledge, techniques, and materials make these relations possible. Stevei’s Whakapapa Chains, formed in uku (clay), trace lines of ancestry through linked kākano, each one a tīpuna within an unbroken chain. Referencing hei found across Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, the work speaks to movement, continuity, and collective identity shaped by land and ocean. Aotearoa is not a backdrop here, but a sovereign presence, anchoring this gathering through material diplomacy, relation, and care.