Neke Moa: Stories embedded into artist’s work
21 Jan 2025, Rachel Healy
This article first appeared in The Post on 21 January 2025
This article first appeared in The Post on 21 January 2025
I’ve aways been curious and observant and liked picking shells up off the beach. As a child, I’d walk and talk with my Nana and show her the shells I’d collected off Kakanui Beach. She had a lot of knowledge of them and the environment. My earliest memory is threading shells on a string – I definitely wanted to wear the shells I collected.
I moved to Ōtaki in 1996 and enrolling at Te Wānanga ō Raukawa was a natural fit for me to explore my Māoritanga through weaving, iwi and hapū studies and reo Māori. My search for identity – to understand myself, my culture and who I am in the world – led me to be creative through mahi toi; to express myself through art and making.
Materials inspire my practice and enhance the mana of what I make. I gather materials from the beach, bush and mountains, and they are also regularly gifted to me.
But inspiration also comes from opening myself up to possibility and potential and connecting to the world around me and the world unseen. Everything has the power to inspire.
My pieces take on their own life with pūrākau – stories – layered and dense within.
SCHMUCK is the longest-running jewellery exhibition in the world and a mecca for contemporary jewellery worldwide. For seven days it’s where the jewellery world converges and shares an evolving spectacular of art and worn objects. Every year, artists from across the globe apply to participate – generally, there are over 700 applicants with only 66 participants and a different guest judge each year.
I won a prestigious Herbert Hoffman Prize in 2023 with the pendant, Ngāti Pūkana. It wasn’t really a surprise to me as her presence was a powerful one. Creative New Zealand helped get me over there by funding flights and accommodation. The importance of showing face and being at these events is critical for networking and elevating our practices on the world stage.
I’ve always made it part of my practice to learn and to teach – the two are intertwined. Going to Fiji and Tonga for three years came about through a conversation with another jeweller who had already been teaching there, in collaboration with the University of the Sunshine Coast. It was a natural progression for me to teach shell craft and make things out of mother of pearl. In Fiji, I worked with a women’s group, which gave me insights into the dynamics and culture of Fijian society – it was a humbling experience.
Both our art practices focus on adornment, with stories embedded into the materials we use. We also both explore cultural identity, wairuatanga – what living in Aōtearoa looks and feels like and how we navigate these spaces.
Rowan’s lace work is exceptional. She is the definition of attention to detail, application and determination. “There are no mistakes”, she says.
We worked together on one piece, Torohū. This collaboration is a statement piece for the exhibition: we can come together as one – realise our kotahitanga through a shared kaupapa (like the march that just happened).
Together, our works speak the same language and give the audience an abundance of eye candy, while demonstrating the intricacies of weaving, carving and materiality. Rowan and I are on the same page, and we encourage others to look closely and to be curious; to embrace our differences, to be kind to each other and the world we live in.
Rangirua, also featuring work by Gabrielle Amodeo and Martin Thompson, continues at Pātaka until 9 March, 2025.
