Vianney Parata

Te Ātiawa Ki Whakarongotai, Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou,
Ngāti Kahungunu

Vianney is a multidisciplinary toi Māori practitioner with an eye for blending traditional methods of cubism within a toi Māori design style.  

Born and raised in Porirua, Parata attended Toimairangi, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and graduated in 2018 with a degree in Te Maunga Kura Toi (Māori Visual Arts). Later that year, she exhibited her work, Ko Tōku Waikanaetanga Tēnei, with her closest whānau.  

Parata is a former tāmoko apprentice to Sian-Montgomery-Neutze (Ngāi Tara, Muaūpoko) and, in 2019, became a full-time tāmoko artist and toi Māori practitioner.

Throughout 2023, Parata has also been working to develop the toi Māori capabilities of her iwi, partnering with Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Toa to teach emerging Ngāti Toa artists toi ā-iwi and pakihi (business skills) to create sustainable careers and ongoing financial freedom for them and their whānau.

A māmā to her three beautiful girls, Parata strives to create a rich and expansive life for her whānau.

Kauia Moriarty

Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Kahungunu 

From a large creative whānau, Kauia is grateful to have grown up around the arts and in particular, has been inspired by Māori theatre. Kauia was born in Pōneke but grew up in Ōtepoti. She studied music at the University of Otago in her young adult years and lived and worked in Auckland, Korea and Ōtepoti before returning to her tūrangawaewae of Porirua and Wellington in 2021.

Kauia has worked in various roles in Māori development, the arts, education and health and has painted on the side throughout her career to support and develop her creativity.

Since returning to Porirua in 2021 with her daughter, Kauia has focused her art practice on learning about the traditional painting practices of kōwhaiwhai through the Toi Rangatira arts programme run by Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Toa. Kauia is also grateful to be developing her knowledge and skills in other toi Māori practices through this learning. Her most recent works are inspired by the moana, changing tides and the movement of water.  

Māmā to her beautiful daughter, Kauia is committed to providing her with many opportunities to understand and practice traditional Māori arts as she grows and learns to navigate te ao hurihuri.

Moana Solomon 

Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Te Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Tama, Kai Tahu

Moana has fond early memories of being taken to raranga noho marae by her mother, Ghena, and being surrounded by creative whānau and rich Māori imagery, which planted the seeds motivating her to pursue weaving.

Today Moana is an emerging ringatoi; a student of whakairo rākau and kōwhaiwhai design in the Toi Rangatira programme, offered by Te Runanga o Toa Rangatira, and continues weaving practices, such as tāniko, passed down through whānau.

This programme has rekindled Moana’s passion for painting and enhanced her understanding of Māori visual design and the intertwined elements of various disciplines of toi Māori.  

Te Taiao is Moana’s inspiration for her current painting, particularly native manu, incorporating elements of kōwhaiwhai and whakairo.

Coming from a large extended whānau engaged in the various disciplines of toi Māori, Moana is grateful to witness and be part of their collective cultural revival.