Through my experiences of becoming, these works held a space suspended in time where I could retreat, dream, contemplate, and learn.

Kāhui Tara is a visual articulation of whakaaro formed through the imagining of Takapau: a style of peha design created uniquely and exclusively for wahine. This exhibition serves as a doorway into its existence, reiterating kōrero tuku iho that speak to the transformative transitions wahine experience throughout their lives, and the whakapapa carried within those moments of becoming.

These works would not exist without the aroha of my whānau, Tohunga Tā Derek Lardelli, te whānau whānui o Toihoukura, and the wahine who have contributed to the whare tangata presented here. E aku rangatira, kua whakairihia ake taku manawa ki runga hei tāwharau i o rahi, kia tae rawa te wā ka huri te rau ōue.

Kei ngā mana whaktiketike, whakaeke mai ki te poho o tōkū whare o koronga i te whatu.

Piki mai, kake mai, whakatau mai rā.