Rangaranga emerges from a desire to ground storytelling in place - to centre the voices, histories, and energies that live within Murihiku/Southland. During his William Hodges Fellowship residency, Paitai has shaped a practice of listening: to the whenua, to the winds that move across it, and to the echoes of tūpuna whose journeys continue to ripple through time. His works become vessels of reconnection, acknowledging the inseparability of people, environment, and memory.

Two installation bodies anchor this exhibition.

Vaka is a multidisciplinary homage to the final resting place of the Tākitimu Waka and the many forms it has taken throughout its long life across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. Through this work, rangaranga becomes a method of realignment: a weaving of narratives that honour both origin and continuation.

Tuoro turns attention to the vitality of reo. Centring the ephemeral beauty of a blooming cherry blossom branch, the work becomes a metaphor for language as a living taonga. In this work, the language of rangaranga is interwoven throughout, revealed in the detail of every petal.

Together, Vaka and Tuoro explore the relationship between place, memory, and language. They ask us to consider what is carried forward, what is reclaimed, and how the stories we value shape our future. These works affirm that the landscapes of Murihiku are not silent - they influence how we understand who we are and where we come from. Through rangaranga, the exhibition offers an invitation to reflect and reconnect.

This exhibition also includes Mokopuna, a work created through a collaboration with local artist Anjelina Nikora-Wilson, who embraced the challenge of using a woven kete as her canvas. Her contribution extends the aroha, continuity, and intergenerational dialogue at the heart of rangaranga