Ngā Tae Whatu – Woven Dreams brings together the practices of Nephi Tupaea (Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Tiipa, Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, Ngati Kahungunu) and Ani O’Neill (Cook Island Ngāti Makea, Ngāti Te Tika). Both artists are members of the Pacific Sisters, an artist collective established in Auckland in 1992, and who have described themselves as being “like the Polynesian version of Andy Warhol’s factory – an ever-evolving collective of artists coming together to create art, music, fashion, and film.”
For Ngā Tae Whatu, Nephi Tupaea has created five new paintings. Ani O’Neill, in response, has created a suite of her trademark and much-loved crocheted paintings. By weaving together their shared histories and expressions of Māori and Pacific identity in glorious technicolour, Tupaea and O’Neill embody the whanaungatanga that is at the heart of the Pacific Sisters kaupapa.
Tupaea describes their works as “speaking to the interwoven nature of our stories, where each thread represents connection — to one another, to the cosmos, and to those who came before us.”
O’Neill goes further, explaining, “Our paintings become a vehicle for sharing memories and presenting stories. They connect us to our sources and they expand our dreaming. By pairing hues, twisting rounds, popping textures and by arranging forms, shapes and clusters, we engage in a cross-pollination of our personal and universal experience.” Ani O’Neill is represented by STARKWHITE starkwhite.co.nz
Photography: Kallan MacLeod
Nephi Tupaea
My Mother's Shoes
2025
acylic on canvas
1510mm H x 1220mm W
NT-2025-17
Ani O’Neill
Lucky Dip 10
2025
yarn and steel, set of 40 crochet paintings
750mm H x 1200mm W (oval cluster)
AO-2025-01
Nephi Tupaea
My Mother's Shoes (detail)
2025
acrylic on canvas
1510mm H x 1200mm W
NT-2025-17
Ani O’Neill
Lucky Dip 10 (detail)
2025
yarn and steel, set of 40 crochet paintings
750mm H x 1200mm W (oval cluster)
AO-2025-01
Ani O’Neill
Lucky Dip 10 (detail)
2025
yarn and steel, set of 40 crochet paintings
750mm H x 1200mm W (oval cluster)
AO-2025-01
Ani O’Neill
Lucky Dip 10 (detail)
2025
yarn and steel, set of 40 crochet paintings
750mm H x 1200mm W (oval cluster)
AO-2025-01
Ani O’Neill
Lucky Dip 10 (detail)
2025
yarn and steel, set of 40 crochet paintings
750mm H x 1200mm W (oval cluster)
AO-2025-01
Ngā Tae Whatu - Woven Dreams
2025
Installation view
Ngā Tae Whatu - Woven Dreams
2025
Installation view
Nephi Tupaea
Tuna Migration
2025
acrylic on canvas
1015mm H x 910m W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Nephi Tupaea
Tuna Migration
2025
acrylic on canvas
1015mm H x 910mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Ngā Tae Whatu - Woven Dreams
2025
Installation view
Ani O’Neill
Faith 1 (Black, Green, Tan) (after Tupaea, Tuna Migration)
2025
yarn and steel
200mm Dia crochet paining
AO-2025-05 Open Edition
Ani O’Neill
Faith 2 (Apricot, Purple, Turquoise) (after Tupaea, Tuna Migration)
2025
yarn and steel
200mm Dia crochet painting
AO-2025-06 Open Edition
Ani O’Neill
Faith 3 (Teal, Mint, Orange) (after Tupaea, Tuna Migration)
2025
yarn and steel
200mm Dia crochet painting
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Ani O’Neill
Faith 4 (Teal, Mint, Orange)(after Tupaea, Tuna Migration)
2025
yarn and steel
200mm Dia crochet painting
AO-2025-08 Open Edition
Ngā Tae Whatu - Woven Dreams
2025
Installation view
Ngā Tae Whatu - Woven Dreams
2025
Installation view
Ngā Tae Whatu - Woven Dreams
2025
Installation view
Ngā Tae Whatu - Woven Dreams
2025
Installation view
Ngā Tae Whatu
2025
Installation view
Nephi Tupaea
Pōhutakawa / Merkabah
2025
acrylic on canvas
760mm H x 760mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Ani O’Neill
Remembrance (after Tupaea, Pōhutakawa / Merkabah)
2025
yarn and steel, set of 5 crochet paintings
310mm H x 420mm W (horizontal cluster)
AO-2025-02
Ngā Tae Whatu - Woven Dreams
2025
Installation view
Ngā Tae Whatu - Woven Dreams
2025
Installation view
Nephi Tupaea
Hiwa-i-te-Rangi / Merkabah
2025
acrylic on canvas
760mm H x 760mm W
NT-2025-15
Ani O’Neill
Hope (after Tupaea, Hiwa-i-te-Rangi / Merkabah)
2025
yarn and steel, set of 5 crochet paintings
420mm H x 310mm W (vertical cluster)
AO-2025-03
Ngā Tae Whatu - Woven Dreams
2025
Installation view
Ngā Tae Whatu - Woven Dreams
2025
Installation view
Nephi Tupaea
It Takes a Village to Raise a Child
2025
acrylic on canvas
1530mm h x 1220mm W
NT-2025-18
Nephi Tupaea
It Takes a Village to Raise a Child (detail)
2025
acrylic on canvas
1530mm H x 1200m W
NT-2025-18
Nephi Tupaea
It Takes a Village to Raise a Child (detail)
2025
acrylic on canvas
1530mm H x 1220mm W
NT-2025-18
Nephi Tupaea
It Takes a Village to Raise a Child (detail)
2025
acrylic on canvas
1530mm H x 1220mm W
NT-2025-18
Ani O’Neill
Love (after Tupaea, It Takes a Village to Raise a Child)
2025
yarn and steel, set of 11 crochet paintings
765mm H x 610mm W (oblong cluster)
AO-2025-04
Ani O’Neill
Love (after Tupaea, It Takes a Village to Raise a Child)(detail)
2025
yarn and steel, set of 11 crochet paintings
765mm H x 610mm W (oblong cluster)
AO-2025-04
Ani O’Neill
Love (after Tupaea, It Takes a Village to Raise a Child)(detail)
2025
yarn and steel, set of 11 crochet paintings
765mm H x 610mm W (oblong cluster)
AO-2025-04
Ngā Tae Whatu
2025
Installation view