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Otago Daily Times

Art provides an emotional link

Two artists from Dunedin, Māia Hetariki and Megan Brady, have been selected as finalists in the 2025 Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award. Rebecca Fox talks to them about their works and journeys. Māia Hetariki When Māia Hetariki saw the photograph of her dad, all smiles with a head full of dreadlocks, she knew it was the one. She had been searching for the right image or person to paint to enter the Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award since her teacher told her about it more than five years ago. A bit hesitant about the idea of entering — she was only 14 or 15 at the time — it remained at the back of her mind. So when she discovered the photograph of her father, Christie, she hoped it would translate well into a painting. "He just looks smiling and happy, and it's kind of a picture of him with this lovely image. I just thought that's wonderful. It's very him. His braids were cut off when I was 11, but it's a bit of a nostalgic-looking image, I think." Over a couple of weeks earlier this year, Hetariki who is from Nelson, worked on the portrait but it was not easy to paint. "It was quite a challenge, only because he's got a great big smile on his face and teeth. It's not that easy for painting a portrait. It can definitely look a little bit questionable if you don't quite get it right. Maybe it was up in the air for a few moments there." She found it nice to work with her father in that way and it reminded her how special it was to have a portrait of someone you love. "It's a really, really nice thing to have, and just present it the way it is. It's just something that will always be lovely for me and my family to have." When painting a portrait the person is always on your mind, even if working from a photograph. Her father was happy with the finished product. "So I think it's a special thing to have done and to get to have. And it's really cool that it's in this show. I wouldn't have entered it into any other show." It's also very different from other portraits she has done of her father. She used to get him to dress up in different costumes and posed him for different portraits. Her old friend Ruby also had the same fate — a portrait of her won the best portrait in the 2021 Tasman National Art Awards. "Over the last couple of years I've painted myself a lot. That's just because I'm convenient and that means I don't have to seek people to be my models. I've painted my partner a lot over the last few years, which I really enjoyed." Oils are Hetariki's paint of choice, something she has used for the past six years. Once she picked them up, she never put them down. "Mainly the texture, the shine. It's luscious and buildable and movable. Obviously it has an extended drying period so you have longer to play with it before it's set in stone. But mainly just being textural, glossy, lumpy aspects and lots of visible brushwork and textural reasons." She can quickly judge a painting — if she puts it aside and says she will come back to it, it is not likely. "It's going to be there when it's done or it's not going to happen. Once it starts, I'll be going hard for five days or until it's complete and then maybe I'll sit it away for a couple of weeks and just do a fresh eyes look." The drive to paint has always been with Hetariki who feels she has been painting all her life but "picked up speed" in her teens with the support of her parents. "It's a solitary activity which I quite enjoy. I do particularly like paint and using paint and being able to paint. It's particularly good." She started focusing on portraiture when she was young and had never found anything else as "intriguing" to paint. "I haven't got as invested in anything else really. I like people. I like looking at their faces." Moving to Dunedin with her partner who was studying here, Hetariki decided to enrol in art school last year and while she enjoyed the experience, she decided not to return this year and instead concentrate more on painting. "It wasn't necessarily the right time. The types of schools that I kind of fanaticised about are very traditional and kind of, I mean, a dream for me would just be to basically come and paint every day." This year she is continuing with the life drawing classes and working on her own projects including painting her laundry cupboard doors in a mural inspired by recent travels to Japan and the viewing of Japanese temple screen doors. "So I'm kind of excited to just get back with that theme at the top of the priority list again and do some online plant courses, tropical plant courses, because I've gotten a little bit obsessed with collecting plants over the last year or so." Megan Brady Tell us about the work you submitted to the Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award. I have been based in Ōtepoti for the past decade but in 2023, I relocated to Ōtautahi for six months to reconnect with and research my Kāi Tahu whakapapa. I made this hand tufted carpet work as a way to reflect on my process of reconnection during that time. Living at a distance from my tūrakawaewae prompted me to create a tangible place to think about the layers of relationship I am exploring within my practice, with place, with my ancestors, with myself. This work became that physical space. You tell me stories in the rockpools is centered on my tupuna Takaroa (Makutu), who I consider in three ways: expansive, close yet distant, and embodied. Takaroa is the atua (gods) of the sea, and also my great-great-great-grandmother. The ocean has and continues to be a constant and fundamental part of my life. I see this relationship I have with the moana being inextricably linked with that of my tāua (grandmother), as they are both anchors of connection and knowledge that guide me along my whakapapa journey. So this layering of a great atua, my recent ancestor, and my own lived experience with the ocean became central to developing this work. The piece imagines moments of encounter between my tāua and I across time and place. A recurring element in the work is the tracing of a significant pōhatu or stone that I found on my first visit to our ancestral awa, Rakahuri. After sharing my pepeha (introduction) with the river, a bone-white stone appeared in the shallows — a moment that felt very significant to me. I carried the pōhatu with me during the remainder of my time in Ōtautahi as a kaitiaki, and it came to represent a touchstone of connection — something physical that Takaroa herself may once have seen, touched, or passed by. The stone became a key detail I wanted to include in the work. I began tracing its outline, allowing those shapes to overlap, imagining time folding in on itself, and the two of us in company and kōrero with each other. There are six generations between us, so the work includes six overlapping forms. The idea of braiding — in reference to the braided awa Rakahuri on its journey to the sea — also became a conceptual and visual reference. When I returned to Ōtepoti at the end of that year, my dad returned the stone to our awa. I often think about where that pōhatu is now, and about the possibility of my mokopuna one day brushing past or noticing it in the waters too. Whakapapa itself is layered, interwoven, and continuous, and this work aims to reflect that. How is it made? This carpet has three layers. Hand-tufted wool on the top surface, a primary woven fabric nestled in the middle and a combination of latex and hessian underneath. All three of these layers are held together with a wool binding that wraps around the exterior. When making these works, the woven fabric is stretched across a frame. With a tufting machine I begin drawing with wool. Here, I am working vertically with the materials, kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face). I appreciate this mode of making as a form of relationship building with my work before it is laid down and engaged with in a more embodied way. Making carpet is laborious and physical mahi, but is a process I find a lot of satisfaction in. One of my favourite things about this work is how it functions. The carpet pile is thick, soft and inviting. It has these visceral qualities that instantly draw our bodies to the ground. I don't make many carpet works, but when I do, it's because of this magic that happens between material and method to create a space that can be activated and felt. I wanted to create a place to sit with Takaroa, and dream of the stories she might tell me. That closeness — to the ground, to water, to memory, to imagination — is fundamental to the work. The colour palette was informed by my memories of spending time in rock pools as a child — the jewel-like moments, where light is bouncing around, deep shadows are cast, and there are countless ever-changing speckles where the sea overlaps with the land in the shallows. These are tones of water and whenua meeting, which used to reflect a sense of gentle movement, layering and intimacy. How does the piece fit in your practice? This work continues and deepens my practice, which moves across sculpture, installation and textiles, and is grounded in site-responsive research and expressions of whakapapa. My work often explores how memory and identity are held within landscape, drawing from family history and personal archive. This piece aligns with that ongoing exploration — using materials and form to create a space where imagination and ancestral connection can meet. It reflects my commitment to fostering intimate relationships between people, place, and the stories that shape them. Why did you enter the competition? I had followed the award in 2023 and was in awe of the range of ways the artists had chosen to depict their tūpuna. Prior to that I wasn't sure my work had a place within the framework of portraiture, but this award offers such an expansive invitation to explore portraiture through any medium, and that openness felt like a compelling entry point for me. What I appreciate about the kaupapa of this award is that it acknowledges the richness of whakapapa and gives agency to tell stories of who we are and where we come from. Within te ao Māori, we descend from people and place. From land, mountains, rivers, and ocean. This competition honours all of those layers within the scope of portraiture. When I realised I had already made a work that spoke to these ideas, I felt excited to share it. I figured I had nothing to lose by entering the award — and potentially something really meaningful to gain. What was your reaction to becoming a finalist? I was simultaneously excited and grateful when I received the email about becoming a finalist for this award. I was at home alone, grinned a really big smile, did a little dance and blew a kiss to the shimmering water of the Otago Peninsula I am lucky to live by. My experience of working as an artist is that I am alone a lot of the time. When I got this news though, I felt really close to my tūpuna and in the company of many who are working to connect deeper to their whakapapa. And this made me feel really proud. The details 2025 Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award • A collaboration between the Office of the Kiingitanga and the New Zealand Portrait Gallery was launched in 2020 to inspire a new generation of emerging Māori artists to create portraits of their tūpuna (ancestors). • First Prize is $20,000, with the runner-up and People's Choice Award each offering $2500. • Entries were open to emerging Māori artists aged 35 and under. • Judges, including contemporary Māori artist Dr Areta Wilkinson (Ngāi Tahu), Head Carver for Waikato-Tainui Iwi Renta Te Waiata (Waikato-Ngāti Māhuta, Te Arawa-Ngāti Kea Ngāti Tuara), and leading painter John Walsh (Aitanga a Hauiti). To see: 2025 Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award, New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata, Wellington, until August 17. The finalists' artworks will then tour Aotearoa for two years.