Te Mata o Papatūānuku / Earth’s Surface brings together the related practices of three indigenous artists whose artworks are characterised by their use of whenua, uku (clay) and earth pigments.
TRACY KEITH (Ngāpuhi) has described his sculptural vessels as “an attempt to create abstracted forms that evoke something ancient and timeless.”
Born and raised in Tokoroa, the centre of Aotearoa’s timber pulp and paper industry, Keith’s raku ceramic evoke the weathered and layered structures of the whenua and the impact of human activity and industry upon it.
Keith writes: “People don’t always live by their tūrangawaewae because they follow work. This can lead to the deterioration of culture but the whakapapa of industry is in our blood.”
Tracy Keith gained an MFA from Auckland’s Whitecliffe College of Art and Design. He lives and works in Hastings where he leads the teaching programme at Toimairangi School of Māori Visual Art.
The work of MARAEA TIMUTIMU (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Tūhoe) addresses the centrality of whenua within mātauranga Māori.
For Te Mata o Papatūānukushe contributes works using whenua pigments on canvas and paper – the pigments collected from sites of significance in Tauranga Moana as well as a trove of kōkōwai (red ochre) gifted by her kaiako (teacher) Tina Wirihana.
Whenua pigments are a means for Timutimu to document the places to which she belongs.
Her work explores ways that whenua connects us to pūrakau (stories), histories, identity and whakapapa.
MANINI GUMANA (Dhalwaŋu) lives at her homeland of Gangan in East Arnhem Land, NT Australia.
She is a member of Buku-Larrngay Mulka Art Centre at Yirrkala, whose name translated from the Yolŋu Matha language means ‘the feeling on your face as it is struck by the first rays of the sun’ (Buku-Larrngay) and ‘sacred ceremony’(Mulka).
Yolŋu artists are known for their mastery of the medium of bark which they harvest in sheets from Stringybark trees during the wet season – as well as for their tradition of Larrakitj (memorial poles) made by painting selected Stringybark logs which have been hollowed out naturally by termites.
Manini Gumana’s wave-like designs refer to the saltwater currents surrounding the Djalma Bay peninsula of her Country.
She was the first artist at Yirrkala to create the template of a bark painting’s composition using a ‘marwat’ (a brush made from human hair attached to a short twig) and was also among the first to mix earth pigments with ‘gapan’ (white clay) to create a new range of bright natural pastel colours.
Gumana’s work is held in Collections including the AGSA Art Gallery of South Australia.
Photography: Kallan MacLeod
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view
Maraea Timutimu
Kokonga Wai I
2025
Kōkōwai / whenua pigment on canvas
913mm H x 565mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Maraea Timutimu
Kokonga Wai II
2025
Kōkōwai / whenua pigment on canvas
913mm H x 565mm W
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view
Maraea Timutimu
Waitī, Waitā
2025
whenua pigment on canvas
760mm H x 760mm W
Maraea Timutimu
Haruru Ana te Wai
2025
Kōkōwai / whenua pigment on canvas
636mm H x 482mm W (frame)
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Inatallation view
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view
Maraea Timutimu
Ngā Wai Rongoa
2025
Kōkōwai on card
905mm H x 700mm W (frame)
Maraea Timutimu
Tai Timu, Tai Pari (Ebb tide, flood tide)
2025
Kerewhenua pigment on card
905mm H x 700mm W (frame)
Maraea Timutimu
Owhakatoro (awa)
2025
Kōkōwai / whenua pigment on card
905mm H x 700mm W (frame)
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view
Tracy Keith
Celestial Chalice
2021
raku-fired ceramic
210mm H x 340mm Dia
Tracy Keith
Puhoro Vessel
2019
raku-fired ceramic
130mm H x 210mm Dia
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Tracy Keith
Copper-Earth-Chalice
2025
raku-fired ceramic
200mm H x 320mm Dia
Tracy Keith
The Sunset of Rangi-nui
2022
raku-fired ceramic
260mm H x 380mm W x 160mm D
Tracy Keith
Matariki
2025
raku-fired ceramic
210mm H x 300mm Dia
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Tracy Keith
Tākohu / Vapour Vessel
2024
raku-fired ceramic
230mm H x 280mm Dia
Tracy Keith
Asteroid Fragment
2021
raku-fired ceramic
210mm H x 305mm Dia
Tracy Keith
Asteroid Fragment
2021
raku-fired ceramic
210mm H x 205mm Dia
Tracy Keith
Cluster Formation
2025
raku-fired ceramic
225mm H x 310mm Dia
Tracy Keith
Ahi Kõmau - Smouldering Fire
2021
raku-fired ceramic
85mm H x 230mm Dia
Tracy Keith
Deep-Blue-Awa
2025
raku-fired ceramic
225mm H x 290mm Dia
Tracy Keith
Deep-Blue-Awa
2025
raku-fired ceramic
225mm H x 290mm Dia
Tracy Keith
Tamatea Vessel (Unpredictable Phase)
2024
raku-fired ceramic
320mm H x 300mm W x 200mm D
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view
Tracy Keith
Waipō (Midnight) Vessel
2022
raku-fired ceramic
210mm H x 280mm Dia
Tracy Keith
Waipō (Midnight) Vessel
2022
raku-fired ceramic
210mm H x 280mm Dia
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view
Tracy Keith
Sienna Desert Vessel
2021
raku-fired ceramic
210mm H x 310mm Dia
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view
Manini Gumana
Garrapara
2022
ochre and natural pigments on Stringybark
535mm H x 355mm W
Manini Gumana
Garrapara (detail)
2022
ochre and natural pigments on Stringybark
535mm H x 355mm W
Manini Gumana
Garrapara
2023
ochre and natural pigments on Stringybark
900mm H x 435mm W
Manini Gumana
Garrapara (detail)
2023
ochre and natural pigments on Stringybark
900mm H x 435mm W
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view
Manini Gumana
Garrapara
2021
ochre and natural pigments on Stringybark
900mm H x 490mm W
Manini Gumana
Garrapara (detail)
2021
ochre and natural pigments on Stringybark
900mm H x 490mm W
Manini Gumana
Garrapara
2023
ochre and pigments on Stringybark
750mm H x 460mm W
Manini Gumana
Garrapara (detail)
2023
ochre and natural pigments on Stringybark
750mm H x 460mm W
Manini Gumana
Installation view
2025
Manini Gumana
Garrapara
2022
ochre and natural pigments on Stringybark
550mm H x 350mm W
Manini Gumana
Garrapara (detail)
2022
ochre and natural pigments on Stringybark
550mm H x 350mm W
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view
Te Mata o Papatūānuku
2025
Installation view