Taarati Taiaroa

Taarati Taiaroa (Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Apa, Ngāti Kotimana) is an independent curator, researcher and artist based in Ōtepoti, Dunedin. She holds Masters degrees in both Fine Arts and Museums and Cultural Heritage. Her work over the past 10 years has focused on site-responsive sculpture, Māori art exhibition histories and the ethics of collaborative practice. As a participant in the Emerging Curators Programme (2015-16) she articulated a manifesto for her ‘conversational research’ approach to working with others that is process driven and resists pre-determined outcomes. In 2019 she co-convened the ST PAUL St Curatorial Symposium 2019: It’s as if we were made for each other; was a guest faculty member on the ICI for the Curatorial Intensive Auckland at Artspace and was Artist-in-residence at the Centre of Action Research and Evaluation at Massey University, Palmerston North. Recent written contributions can be found in Crafting Aotearoa (2019), Art New Zealand (Summer 2021-22) and Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art (2022). Her current research is focused on the work of the late Matt Pine (1941-2021), a pioneer of Māori minimalism.