This monumental series of works, created by Hariata Ropata-Tangahoe in the early 2000s, traces her matriarchal whakapapa (genealogy) and honours her female tūpuna (ancestors). As she notes, “tūpuna are the conceptual spring, the source…my thinking and intuition combine with the oral history and traditions of my ancestors.” Through her artistic practice, which spans painting, sculpture and drawing, she explores her sense of place and identity, drawing on her whakapapa to imagine a post-colonial future that foregrounds wahine (women).

Born in 1952 of Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa, Te Atiawa and Welsh and Italian descent, Ropata-Tangahoe lives and works on the Kāpiti Coast. Her life-size paintings rendered in her unique style are full of rich symbolism and are presented within hand-carved frames made with her long-time collaborator Len Taylor.