Arawhetu - Community Curator
Everything I’ve done previously finally adds up, and the pebbles I’ve collected along the way are are shining stones strung with white muka.
Community Curator at Petone Settlers Museum
Fresh out of my undergrad studies I fell in love with museums. It was after my BFA studies in Toi Atea: Contemporary Māori Art that I interned through Massey University with the Mātauranga Māori team at Te Papa. I was exposed to the daily environment of working and being responsive to the taonga Māori, of seeing how the kaitiaki balanced industry standards in their profession with their own cultural response to being around these powerful objects, acknowledging the mana, wehi and ihi of their collections.
I worked with Awhina Tamarapa to transcribe video footage for research into her book Whatu Kākahu: Māori Cloaks, it was working for her that I first heard about the Museum and Heritage Studies programme at Victoria University of Wellington. I travelled abroad and worked at Te Papa over a few years in public roles before feeling it was the right time to enrol.
Through the Museum and Heritage Studies Diploma I developed my writing and was supported beautifully by Conal, Annie and Lee. I interned at Pātaka Art & Museum in an assistant curator/assistant registrar capacity, and then curated a show of contemporary Māori designers at Toi Pōneke. I worked in short term contracts after graduating, all coming from connections built from the MHST course. It was an exciting time and I like to reflect on it as if collecting beach pebbles (aka skills) to add to my kete.
Between that time and where I am now I worked at the National Library (primarily delivering education programmes, events, and public learning support). I had a bubba and got stuck into the community groups I am connected to including dance, capoeira and performance.
The role I now occupy as Community Curator at the Petone Settlers Museum feels like everything I’ve done previously finally adds up, and the pebbles I’ve collected along the way are shining stones strung with white muka. I’m excited to be at this point and working towards new goals, both big and little ones.
National Library colour palette blog -https://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/a-heritage-colour-palette
Petone Settlers Museum intro blog - https://petonesettlers.org.nz/2017/10/03/settling-in-at-the-petone-settlers-museum/