Mana Wāhine

Geva Ngāpō Downey

Ko Moehau te Maunga
Ko Tīkapa te Moana
Ko Harataunga te whenua
Ko Ngāti Porou ki Hauraki ki Ngati Tamatera ki Ngapuhi oku iwi
E mahi ana au hei Kaimānga Mātauranga ki Wairau Māori Art Gallery.

Geva Ngāpō Downey is mamma to Hemi and Mossy, an art educator and has a music degree from Otago University.

She has worked in Aotearoa's Public Art Gallery sector for over 20 years and is the Kaimānga Mātauranga for Wairau Māori Art Gallery, in Whangārei.

She is passionate about contemporary Māori art and loves hearing the stories people share when they are moved by works of art.

Dorothy Waetford

Ko Onekainga te maunga,
Ko Te Wairahi te awa,
Ko Ngāti Rehua, Te Whānau Whero me Ngāti Hine ngā hapu,
Ko Ngātiwai, Ngāpuhi-nui-tonu ngā iwi.

Dorothy lives and works from the whānau homestead in Matapouri. Raised in both Māori and Pakeha ways, she was encouraged by both sides of her whānau to pursue her natural creative talents.

Before her tertiary training, Dorothy danced with Te Kanikani o Te Rangatahi and Taiao Māori Dance.  

Teaching introduced Dorothy to Ngā Kaihanga Uku Māori Clay Workers Collective, Te Ātinga Contemporary Māori Visual Arts and Toi Māori Aotearoa.

She currently works for Māori and indigenous artists' networks as a kaimahi and ringa uku, supporting cultural creative aspirations through advocacy agencies including Toi Ngāpuhi.

Nicki Wakefield

He Uri o Ngā Hapū Tini o Whangārei, Te Whakatōhea, Te Arawa, Ngai Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Pakeha, BSc.

Raised in Portland, Nicki connects into the north with her whānau of 5, through taiao mahi over generations and supporting our hapū of Whangārei through Te Paparahi o Te Raki Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry.

Nicki is keen to return hapū into the future of our whole community and restore our cultural landscapes where we all live.

June Pitman

Ko Manaia toku maunga
Ko Terenga Paraoa toku awa
Ko Mātaatua, Ngātokimatawhaorua, Te Awara, Tainui ngā waka
Ko Te Tāwera o Ngāti Pūkenga, Pahuharakeke, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngā Puhi nui tōnu nga iwi
Ko Tamaterau tōku whenua Ko Pakikaikutu tōku turangawaewae
Ko June Pitman ahau.

Brought up on ancestral lands at Tamaterau, June Pitman was raised by her mother, grandmother, older sister and wider whānau in a pākeha-influenced Māori environment.

She describes herself as a "free-range" Pākeha-looking Māori kid who enjoyed a childhood freedom of roaming both ngāhere and moana, gathering kai, collecting plants, closely connecting with te taiao (the natural world); particularly the sounds (or music) of nature.

June is a creative expressionist: singer / songwriter, storyteller, published author, poet, organiser and voracious gardener, who is committed to supporting her hapū and helping uphold mana Māori within the cultural heritage space throughout Whangārei.