The Maudslay Gallery

The Maudslay Gallery

Image Gwil Owen



Donna Campbell

I aim to implement the technology of the art of raranga to create works that carry the mana of weaving and speak with the voice of the urban modern Maori. As a practitioner and teacher of raranga for many years I am constantly inspired by the complexity of pattern, and the commitment it takes to the craft. This work is one of a series of totem works reflecting the notion of body as container.

Pacific totem (2002)
harakeke (New Zealand flax), copper wire, wooden rods

Perpex Patu- George Nuku

Image Gwil Owen
Image Gwil Owen
Image Gwil Owen

George Nuku
When you enact your culture you don’t need to translate your culture anymore. You should say something clearly to the other world before you present your culture. Be very clear to them about what it is that you are doing and then do it and they will figure it out, because they will feel it. They will feel what you are trying to express in your culture and your world and if you translate that you’re almost saying to them that they don’t understand - you’re not putting any faith or any trust in those people.

Patu, Carved Perpex 2006
Taiaha, Carved Perpex 2006
Tewhatewha, Carved Perpex 2006

Portrait of artist with work, Sherry Roberts

Chris Charteris

Before I start making, I think about what sort of energy I wish to portray. In making these works I have contemplated what would be appropriate for a chief or a person with big mana to wear. What would have enough power, status and impact. These are set-aside objects made for a particular purpose. If purpose is there, it affects the material whether pounamu (greenstone) or plastic.
Wasekaseka (2005)
black perspex and cotton
Kouma (2005)
pounamu and coconut fibre
Savageware (2005)
pounamu and coconut fibre


Image Carine Durand
Natalie Robertson and Hemi Macgregor

Maui really got around, that wily adventurer. Didn’t need a travel agent or passport to be a border-crosser in those days. No customs to get through, just the locals, and well, there were ways and means to get around them. He wasn’t remembered as Maui of Thousand Tricks for nothin’. Maui’s most useful strategy was his abilities as a change agent, a shapeshifter. Taking the forms of fish and fowl, Maui could get around the gatekeepers and satisfy his insatiable curiosity.

Tales of the Maori Border (2006)
wood, portable DVD players, DVDs

Image Gwil Owen

In ancient Polynesia, birds had an important part to play in everyday life. There was spiritual and material wealth to be gained from their inclusion and respect. For example the name Samoa: "sa" is sacred and "moa" is bird.

I definitely feel like a New Zealander with Samoan heritage, but I know more about Maoridom now, than I do about Samoan culture but that's ok with me, cause I was born and raised in Aotearoa.

My Father is Kiwi/European from Taranaki, and my mother is from Samoa, so I am getting lots of different perspectives.

Manu tawhiti tahi (2006)
digital print on vinyl

Manu tawhiti rua (2006)
digital print on vinyl

Sa-Moa (2006)
digital print on vinyl