Join us for a deep dive into our current exhibition, PUPURITIA: Storytelling and Contemporary Textiles, with Matariki Williams.

PUPURITIA explores the textile practices of different aspects of community across Aotearoa – different cultures, faiths, disciplines, and generations. Through methods and materials including embroidery, tīvaevae, hiapo and applique, the works curated together by Melanie Tangaere Baldwin reflect a ‘community of artists who are holding each other and their shared stories with respect and care.’

In this lecture, curator and writer Matariki Williams will share her engagement with the taonga in the exhibition and the extensions that can be drawn between history and textile practice in Aotearoa.

Registration is essential for this free event.

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Matariki Williams (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Hauiti, Taranaki, Ngāti Whakaue, Te Atihaunui-a-Pāpārangi) is a curator and writer. She is the Visual Arts Director for Kia Mau Festival, and in 2024–2025, Matariki held the Oroya Day Fellowship in New Zealand Art History in the Art History programme at Victoria University focusing on the continuum of Māori art practice. Previous roles include as Senior Historian, Mātauranga Māori at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and Curator Mātauranga Māori at Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand. 

She is a committee member for Te Hā o Ngā Pou Kaituhi Māori - National Māori Writers Network. Matariki lives with her whānau in Whakatāne, beside her river Ōhinemataroa and close to her ūkaipō of Rūātoki, te whenua i puritia, te whenua i tawhia.

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The Ockham Lecture series is an annual programme of lectures and panel discussions across different themes that critically engage with craft, design and architecture. This programme is supported by Objectspace's Lead Partner Ockham Residential.