Adam Art Gallery Re-Opens With New Exhibition Foregrounding Te Tiriti As An Enduring Reference For Aotearoa Artists

Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery re-opens its doors with Whai Wāhi. With a title that invokes the resolute pursuit of space, this exhibition of new and historic works foregrounds artists’ distinct and resounding voices within discussions around Te Tiriti and ideas expanding out from it. In this full-gallery exhibition—featuring sculpture, photography, painting, installation, and moving image—artworks from the 1970s to the present day articulate expressions of mana motuhake, dissent, and an enduring will to engage in critical dialogue about our shared colonial past.

Anchoring the exhibition is the Treaty panel from Te Papa, redacted by artists and activists Te Waka Hourua on 11 December 2023. Brought into the gallery, the panel continues its work of calling for accurate representation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The panel is contextualised within the company of artworks that uphold related propositions, explicitly or more subtly articulating the need for change, and affirming the continuity of connection to whenua and tūpuna. Significant works by eminent Māori artists including Kura Te Waru Rewiri, Robyn Kahukiwa, Diane Prince, Emily Karaka, and Ngataiharuru Taepa sit alongside a series of photographs by John Miller documenting watershed historical protests in Aotearoa. In different ways, each of these artists demonstrates the need for remembrance and resistance.

Whai Wāhi also features new work by contemporary artists Madison Kelly and Melanie Tangaere Baldwin. Tangaere Baldwin’s Matakite asserts clear-sighted tūpuna knowledge and tino rangatiratanga that exists before and beyond our present moment, while Hine Whakawetewete embodies the potential for collective emancipation. Madison Kelly’s sound installation, Heed a tohu, cradle a branch evokes the whakapapa of taniwha in relation to bodies of land and water, and timescales that go beyond the human.

The exhibition also extends beyond Aotearoa, with moving image works by Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation / Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians) and Inas Halabi (Palestine), narratives of opposition to the displacement of Indigenous people in their own lands.

Whai Wāhi adds to the contemporary conversation around Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which remains a primary reference for artists, among others, in the negotiation of identity and relationships here in Aotearoa. Opening 50 years after the 1975 Land March and since the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal, and at a time when both the Tribunal and Te Tiriti are under what legal academic Dr Carwyn Jones has described as “sustained attack”, Whai Wāhi brings together a series of works that collectively make a formidable, meaningful contribution to the ongoing discussion of how we relate to place and to each other.

Exhibition details

Whai Wāhi

Melanie Tangaere Baldwin (Ngāti Porou), Madison Kelly (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Pākehā), Kura Te Waru Rewiri (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Kauwhata), Robyn Kahukiwa (Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, Ngāti Hau, Ngāti Konohi, Te Whānau-a-Ruataupare, Te Whānau-a-Te Aotawarirangi), Diane Prince (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Whatua, Ngāti Kahu), Emily Karaka (Ngāti Hine a Maru, Ngāti Wai, Ngāi Tai), Te Waka Hourua, John Miller (Ngā Puhi), Ngataiharuru Taepa (Te Arawa, Te Āti Awa), Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation / Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians), Inas Halabi (Palestine)

Curated by: Abby Cunnane (Pākehā) & Brooke Pou (Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Te Rangi)

Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery
22 November 2025–29 March 2026
Summer closedown: 20 December 2025–19 January 2026
Opening hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 11 am–5pm, FREE ENTRY

© Scoop Media