Matariki Williams

Matariki Williams (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Hauiti, Taranaki, Ngāti Whakaue) is Acting Senior Curator Mātauranga Māori at Te Papa Tongarewa. With Stephanie Gibson and Puawai Cairns, she is the co-author of the publication Protest Tautohetohe: Objects of Resistance, Persistence and Defiance. Matariki is the co-founded and co-edits ATE Journal of Māori Art with Bridget Reweti, and her writing has featured in multiple online publications including frieze, Art in America, e-Tangata, Pantograph Punch, The Spinoff, and ArtZone.

These are my feathers: An extract from Te Manu Huna A Tāne

11 June 2020 by Matariki Williams

Matariki Williams is Te Papa’s Mātauranga Māori curator. In an extract from Te Manu Huna A Tāne, she writes about how honouring the kiwi became a lesson in honouring her own heritage. This essay has been abridged by Williams and its original title is Into the Void. There is a photo on my sideboard. It … Read more

Māori girl: unnamed but not forgotten

11 February 202116 August 2018 by Matariki Williams

Curator matauranga Māori at Te Papa, Matariki Williams, introduces the woman that watches over the Ngā Tai Whakarongorua exhibition at Te Papa, known only as Maori girl. Tēnei wahine. When I first met her, she stopped me in my tracks. I was back of house at Te Papa, in the art store room and my colleague, Rebecca … Read more