Ngaroma Riley
Tūrehu Arms Akimbo

Tōtara wood, acrylic, acrylic paint

---

ARTIST STATEMENT

This sculpture is a reference to my whakapapa, which includes tūrehu or fair-skinned mountain fairies. The blue hair and lips evoke the earthen pigment pukepoto, which is also the name of a small town in Northland where my grandfather grew up. Although these fairy folk are common to many iwi across the motu, their origins remain uncertain—echoing other aspects of Māori knowledge lost or fragmented through colonisation. Based on the tekoteko form, the sculpture explores the technique of contrapposto and its application to traditional Māori sculpture.