About | Paemanu

Ko wai mātou? Who are we?

About - Our Whakapapa

Paemanu began as a group of art professionals coming together to create and drive events associated with Ngāi Tahu arts practitioners at all stages of their career development. Over time, as events became larger and more complex, funding was needed to assist Paemanu to achieve its goals. To aid in future growth, resilience and accountability, it was decided to form a trust. Paemanu Charitable Trust: Ngāi Tahu Contemporary Visual Arts was granted Charitable Trust status in July 2013.

BOARD MEMBERS

Ross Hemera

(Pou Tokomanawa), Waitaha, Ngāti Māmoe, Ngāi Tahu

Ross Hemera is an established artist and designer who’s practice honours the cultural and artistic traditions of his iwi. While drawing on a dual Māori and Pākehā heritage, his creative work is contemporary and innovative incorporating new interpretations.

His portfolio includes group and solo exhibitions, public commissions and projects of national significance. Ross creates art forms in painting, sculpture, drawing, design and mixed media referencing concepts such as whakapapa, whenua, mana, taonga and whānau.

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Kiri Jarden

(Chair) Ngāi Tahu, Rangitāne, Ngāti Toa Rangatira

Kiri Jarden has worked in arts strategy and planning, management and events for nearly twenty years both in Rotorua and Ōtautahi.
Most of her work in recent years has been as a producer, helping create opportunities for others to present or create their own work. There has been a shift back to making art herself which has been precipitated through her moko and tamahine.

Jarden's research and documentation of her whakapapa underpins her creative activity in various media.

Simon Kaan

Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Irakehu,

Kāti Mako ki Wairewa, Guangzau, Satu Village

Simon Kaan is a printmaker, painter, performance artist, curator, spatial designer, surfer and self-confessed foodie. His work has been described as “contemporary and timeless,” a notion that seems to fit well with many of the indigenous relationships referenced in his artmaking.

Kaan's soft focus, tranquil palette and finely stacked horizons are peppered with highly emotive and delicately rendered symbols and icons.

His performative projects, under the Kaihaukai Collective, investigates the bringing together of community, history and food.

Martin Langdon

Kāi Tahu, Waikato -Tainui , Ngāti Whāwhākia,

Ngāti Hikairo

Martin Awa Clarke Langdon is an Artists /Curator from South Auckland whose multi-disciplinary practice conceptually teases out the tension and liminal spaces that exist between Māori and Pākehā world views. Langdon has exhibited, curated, and created small and large community-based projects throughout Aotearoa. Langdon also bring knowledge and experience as an educator in art institutions and previously co-director of a social enterprise to the Paemanu team.

Rachael Rakena

Ngāi Tahu, Ngāpuhi

Rachael Rakena is widely respected for her innovative use of digital and electronic media immersed in Māori tradition, culture and values. Her work has prompted a new term - toi rerehiko (literally 'electric brain'); a play on rorohiko, the Māori word for computer.

Rakena has exhibited internationally, including works at the Sydney Biennale, Venice Biennale, and Busan Biennale.

Chloe Cull

Ngāi Tahu, Ngāi te Ruahikihiki

Chloe a curator based in Ōtautahi Christchurch. She is currently Pouarataki Curator at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. Previous arts roles include Arts Programme Coordinator at Te Ara Ātea in Rolleston, Assistant Curator at Govett Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth, and Toi Māori intern at The Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt. Chloe is also Chair of the Physics Room Board of Trustees.

Mya Morrison-Middleton

Ngāi Tahu - Ngāi Tūāhuriri

Mya Morrison-Middleton is an artist and writer, but most of the time works as an organiser behind the scenes. Mya recently completed Toi Paematua - Toi Ataata at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa in Ōtepoti, and participated in The Next Page programme for early-career editors. She has held positions at Auckland Arts Festival, Basement Theatre, Blue Oyster Art Project Space, Pantograph Punch and is currently Visitor Programmes Coordinator at Dunedin Public Art Gallery, in Ōtepoti Dunedin

Caitlin Rose Donnelly

Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Irakehu,
Kāti Mako ki Wairewa, Pākehā

Caitlin Rose Donnelly is an emerging multidisciplinary artist, curator, and writer in rural Southland. Her practice explores identity as wahine Māori, an adoptee, and a mother. Simon Kaan has supported Caitlin as a tuakana, witnessing her journey from being ‘Iwi unknown’ to discovering and connecting with her whakapapa. Caitlin has guided Kia Ora Whaea through three iterations across Aotearoa. She also currently holds a position at Blue Oyster Art Project Space.

Ayesha Green

Kai Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu

Ayesha Green is a contemporary Artist. Born in Ōtautahi Christchurch, she lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. Working across painting, drawing, and sculpture, Ayesha examines histories of Māori and Pākehā representation, often questioning the particular ‘truths’ or myths they perpetuate. Her practice co-opts culturally loaded images from the history of Aotearoa and breaks them down to their pictorial elements, drawing attention to the systems of power that bestow them with value.