Artists for Waiapu Action — shortened to AWA, which also means ‘river’ in te reo Māori — is a collaboration between photographer and scholar Natalie Robertson and tohunga taiao restoration ecologist (knowledgeable ecologist) Graeme Atkins, formed to advance action for the Waiapu river from the mountains to the sea through art. Robertson and Atkins share whakapapa (genealogy) to Te Whānau a Pōkai-Pōhatu and Tīkapa Marae, a hapū (sub-tribe) of Ngāti Porou. For our project in the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial, we collaborate with Lionel Matenga, also of Ngāti Pōkai, a tohunga whakairo (skilled carver) and net-weaver. A life-sized replica of these fishing technologies forms the centre of AWA’s installation for APT11. Abraham Karaka brings language and histories, Alex Monteith creates underwater videos and Maree Sheehan generates sonic landscapes.

 Our installation He Uru Mānuka, He Uru Kānuka 2024 takes its name from a little-known mōteatea (lament) of the same name. Our focus is on recovered and reinterpreted customary fishing knowledge, applied in the current context of a rapidly changing environment. Fishing practices incorporate plant ecologies, weaving practices and sculptural built structures. We see these creative practices as crucial to wellbeing, maintaining, culture, community cohesion, self-determination, identity, a sense of belonging and attachment to place.

We aim to draw attention to the vulnerability of the materials used — in particular, mānuka (or ‘tea tree’), a member of the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Myrtles are under threat from a climate change–induced spread of myrtle rust, a fungal disease. What if, one hundred years from now, mānuka and kānuka became extinct because of myrtle rust?

 Every time a net is put out into the river, we reiterate the value of enacting cultural survival and revival. The resulting creative works enhance these practices and provide a material, visual and sonic record intended to be seen and heard one hundred years into the future.