Bio
Tanya Te Miringa Te Rorarangi Ruka
Ngati Pakau Te Uriroroi, Te Parawhau, Te Mahurehure Nga Puhi Waitaha-Hokianga
Indigenous Māori Artist | Designer | Researcher | Collaborative
Active in Environmental Issues from an Indigenous Perspective in Aotearoa NZ & globally.
Working with the Waitaha Executive Grandmothers Council as Claims Administrator.
2023
Lecturer Mātauranga Māori
Te Kura Hoahoa School of Design Innovation, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University.
Executive Director
Native Land Digital
Founder | Director
Region Net Positive Ltd, Indigenous Community Network Platform, since 2020.
Founder | Creative Director
Fog & Moon Studio, since 2017.
Judge Generation Zero Art Competition
2022
Keynote Speaker: Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) GIS Conference with Rudo Kemper for Native Land Digital.
Mātanga Kōtuitui Pāpori (Community Relationship Specialist), Native Land Digital.
Jury Panel Member, Urban Dreams 'Te Wāhi o te Papa Whakāta' a public moving image commission.
Judge International Womens Peace Group NZ Art Competition.
Jury Panel Member, Nature of Cities Festival.
2021
Research Communications Lead, Native Land Digital.
Treasurer of the Taheke Gazetted Māori Committee, National Māori Council.
Aotearoa Arts Curator, Nature of Cities Festival.
Writer Contributor, Center for Humans and Nature.
Transitional HQ Advisory Board Member.
2020
Kaitiaki & member of the Better Futures Forum.
MEMBERSHIP | COMMUNITY: ARTS & ENVIRONMENTAL INVOLVEMENT
Urban Dreams Brokerage Board Member 2022
CIRCUIT ARTIST FILM & VIDEO AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND Arts Agency 2016.
Artist in residence Corbans Estate Art Centre 2018-19.
Founder Region Net Positive platform
Transitional HQ Advisory Board Member 2021
Common Earth Alliance - Indigenous Working Group
International Women's Peace Group member
United Nations Women Aotearoa NZ member
Established the Community Rongoā Forest, Wellington 2021
ARTS AWARDS
Toi Taiao Whakatairangi commission, supported by Bioheritage National Science Challenge, 2022
Courtenay Place Park Lightbox Exhibition, Matariki, Public Art Fund Wellington City Council 2022
Letting Space / Urban Dream Brokerage Public Art Commission, Pōneke, Wellington City 2021
Arts Whau Public Art Commission 20/21
Creative New Zealand, Māori Arts Fund recipient 2020
THE 1ST Circuit Matariki Commission for Masons Screen, Public Art, Wellington City 2020
Star Cluster Exhibition Public Art Commission Auckland City Council 2020 (*cancelled due to COVID)
Tanya Ruka’s work is held in public and private collections nationally and internationally.
Creative New Zealand, Māori Arts Fund recipient 2020
(Image: filmstill Waimapihi -
photograph by Jade Ruka 2021)
Tanya Te Miringa Te Rorarangi Ruka is a Māori Indigenous artist and designer living in Te Whānganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, Capital City of New Zealand). The land of 3 tribal nations: Te Atiawa, Ngati Toa Rangatira and Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika.
She is of Ngati Pakau, Te Uriroroi, Te Parawhau, Te Mahurehure Ngapuhi, and Waitaha Hokianga descent. She is a member of the Taheke Gazetted Māori Committee of the National Māori Council.
A Master of Art and Design, active in environmental issues from an indigenous perspective in Aotearoa and globally. Working with the Waitaha Executive Grandmothers Council she has been documenting and mapping the sacred stories of her Tupuna ancestors as evidence for tribal environmental issues involving land and water protection claims. As a Māori artist, she is inspired by her ancestry and the creation stories understanding the land as tupuna (ancestor).
Honouring ancestral Master Navigator voyagers of Te Moana-nui-a-kiwa (Oceania) Tanya works with Mātauranga Māori (ancestral knowledge and navigational tools) to design pathways of transitional Indigenous Futures and Indigenous Speculative Design.
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Working in the digital realm creating stories that firmly place indigenous concepts, knowledge, perspectives and ways of being in the landless territories of new imagined futures. She is currently working with dedicated indigenous and non-indigenous textile researchers, academics, scientists, engineers, growers and local Iwi (tribes). Documenting the journey to develop circular designed, native plant fibre materials and textiles that will help to connect people back to the land through indigenous ways of knowing. She is developing a Community Rongoā (Māori native plant medicine) Forest initiative weaving together ancestral knowledge with integrated app based technology.
Tanya hopes to continue the legacy of her late Uncle, who was sent by her Grandmother into the world to open up pathways of communication with other indigenous tribal nations. As Executive Director for Native Land Digital she is honoured to be a part of the team and is dedicated to the representation of indigenous tribal voices and their homelands.
'manāki whenua, manāki tangata, haere whakamua'.
EXHIBITIONS:
& COLLABORATIVE WORK /
GROUP SHOWS / CONFERENCES.
2023
Women in Photography group show, Ahuriri Contemporary Gallery, 12th May - 19th June.
In Conversation: Indigenous Plant Medicine - Growing a deeper connection with the natural world. Hosted by Christine Luckasavitch, TNS & Center for Humans & Nature Mar.
Women in Photography group show exhibition, Twenty Six Gallery, Feb.
In Conversation: PLN8 Stamen Design Podcast for Native Land Digital, Jan.
2022
Keynote Speaker: Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) GIS Conference with Rudo Kemper for Native Land Digital 15/11/22
Keynote Speaker: International Women's Peace Group
Speaker: 'City Talks' by NZ Institute of Architects at Wellington City Gallery, September 19th
Puanga ki Matariki, Te Wharewaka o Pōneke, Matariki 24th June
Toi Taiao Whakatairangi Commission June
'Awakening the Taniwha' Mangere Arts Centre, 28th May - 16th July
Speaker: Topophillia Attachment & Belonging, Live & Smart Research Laboratory, Deakin University
Courtenay Place Park Lightbox Exhibition Matariki 2022, Public Art Fund Wellington City Council, 28 May - 18 September
Christchurch Art Centre Anaerobic Video screens, CIRCUIT from 2–31 May
2021
'Rongo-marea-roa-a-rangi' Letting Space | Urban Dream Brokerage Public Art Commission, 2021
Imagining Future Foods - Youth Speculative Design Event , Facilitator Installation/ Storytelling, Nov 20
What Stories Does the Land Hold? Questions for a Resilient Future Series, Center for Humans & Nature,
Published July 2021
'We look to the Future with Progressive Ideals' group show by Women in Photography Au/NZ
curated by Virginia Woods-Jack
1 April - 7 September, Thistle Hall Community Venue
Open Homes Exhibition Group Show
All Goods Gallery, Avondale, Auckland
Opening Night 19th June
Inter-School Workshop Diversity Actions
La Villette Makerz, Paris/ online, Presenting on Inspiring Biodiversity in Design, University of Nimes 1-3 April
Hope Garden Workshop - Weaving Biodiversity with Amanda Hookham and Ecomatters
for the Raranga Rerenga Rauropi Community Art Project
Hope Garden, New Lynn, Ecofest March 21
TE TUHI
14 FEB - 9 MAY 2021
AOTEAROA ARTS CURATOR, The Nature of Cities Festival,
22nd - 26th February 2021
Raranga Rerenga Rauropi: Weaving Biodiversity Community Art Project
* See website for details: Blockhouse Bay/ New Lynn & Avondale libraries
Whau Community Project
Supported by Arts Whau
2020
'The Sound of Seeing - Sonic Experiment in Aotearoa Artists Film & Video 1973-2020'
Oct-Nov, The Pyramid Club, Wellington
Circuit Artists Agency & Epic Sweep Records
Kōhatu Tipua Supernatural Stones
CIRCUIT ARTISTS FILM & VIDEO AOTEAROA NZ
WELLINGTON PUBLIC ART COMMISSION
1 - 29th JULY
Kõhatu Tipua: Sky Kings - Gannet Kingdom
FUNDED BY CREATIVE NEW ZEALAND, MĀORI ARTS FUND, COMMUNITY ARTS
*Working with Te Manawa library we will be showing 'Kōhatu Tipua: Sky Kings – Gannet Kingdom'
During Matariki from 1st July, 12th July artist talk & opening.
STAR CLUSTER EXHIBITION,
PUBLIC ART INSTALLATION MATARIKI Auckland City Council.
Te Manawa.
(Cancelled due to COVID19)
2019
Common Earth Conference - design presented, Common Wealth Secretariat Regeneration Conference, LONDON UK, 1 Oct.
TEXTILE INTERSECTIONS: LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY & ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART, IMPERIAL COLLEGE, LONDON UK
Authors : Faith Kane, Peter Brorens, Marie Joo Le Guen, Angela Kilford and Tanya Ruka
Title : Exploring a Place-Based Approach to Developing New Materials for Sustainable Futures: Natural Fibre Composites in New Zealand
Helensville Art Gallery
July 2019
Matariki Group Show.
31 MAY - 9 JUNE
SAN POTITO SANNITICO, ITALY
'Towards a Critical Rurality'.
Authors: Dr Faith Kane, Dr Peter Brorens, Dr Marie Joo Le Guen, Rangi Te Kanawa, Angela Kilford & Tanya Ruka.
2018
\ Neighbourhood, CEAC Project Space, 27 October.
/ Kete Aronui with Heather Steadman, Matariki, Helensville Art Center, 6 - 28 July
WEAVING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR AOTEAROA NZ: LEARNING FROM HARAKEKE,
Textiles & Place Symposium, Manchester School of Art, April.
HARAKEKE TEAM: Dr Faith Kane, Huhana Smith, Rangi Te Kanawa.
2017
/ 'Te Taiao'Matariki with Fred Graham Franklin Arts Centre (June)
/ Photographic work published in The Roaring Silence Book by the Depot Artspace.
Published by Depot Press.
2016
/ In conjunction with the Circuit Symposium 2016 Phantom Topologies (Saturday 10th September) City Gallery Wellington.
“I want to be where I am” exhibition | 8th September – 30th September
‘Whenua <l^ndscape reclamation> | Mākutu #1 Mt Taranaki’ shown with Martha Atienza‘s work titled ‘My navel is buried in the sea.’
The Engine Room, Massey University.
/ Matariki Festival at Mangere Arts Centre (June 7 - July 16)
2015
/ Polynesian Triangle Films screening Spectacle, Brooklyn, NY (Sept)
/ Millennium Film Journal. No. 61 Screening in New York. (June)
/ Matariki - Te Hau a Uru - Arataki Centre Waitakere (June - July)
/ Since 1984: He aha te ahurea-rua? group show St Paul St Gallery (17 April - 22 May)
2014
/ Te Hau a Uru group show @ Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery (1 Nov - 7 Dec)
/ Exhibition 2 group show artbase.org (14 Aug - 19 Sep)
/ Group Show Te Toi Hou Northart Gallery (23 June - 9 July)
/ Solo show AV room Wallace Arts Trust Centre (April)
2013
/ Art & Sound Matariki on the Waterfront @ Silo Park (July 19 - 20)
/ WHIRIWHIRI-A-ROPU Corbans Estate Art Centre (June 21 - July 28)
*Artist Talk Saturday June 29 11am
2012
/ 10th Anniversary Festival Corbans Estate Art Centre (Sep)
/ 'On the Count of Three' MSVA moving image graduates show Enjoy Gallery Wellington (Aug)
/ Matariki exhibition with Lisa Reihana, Papakura Art Gallery (June)
/ Assemble Assembly group show St Paul St Gallery (May)
/ Presentation to the Centre for Contemporary Photography NZ
/ Hokianga Art Gallery Waitangi Exhibition (Jan)
2011
/ 'Tawhiri 3' RM Gallery (Nov/Dec)
/ 'Thou Shalt not Art on Sundays' group show Uxbridge Gallery (Oct)
/ 'Pink exhibition' group show NZ Steel Gallery (Oct)
/ Auckland Art Week, Highwick House (13th-21st October)
/ 'Pelago' AV room The Pah Homestead Wallace Arts Trust (29 Aug - 4 Sep)
/ 'Forest for the trees' International Year of the Forest group show Lopdell House Gallery (Aug-Oct)
/ Matariki First Light group show, The NZ Steel Gallery (July)
/ Finalist Digital Graffiti, Alys Beach Florida (June)
/ Wairoa Maori Film Festival, showcase (June)
/ Nepal 5th International Indigenous Film Festival, invited to travel to Kathmandu Nepal to showcase 'Tawhirimatea' installation during the opening ceremony (April)
/ Auckland Art Festival White Night, Wallace Arts Trust Centre
2009
/ Finalist Wallace Arts Trust Awards
/ Matariki Exhibition group show, Corban's Estate Art Gallery
2006
/ DVA Exhibition group show, PPG Gallery
/ 'Nga Tuahine Huanuku' Exhibition group show, West-Coast Gallery
/ 'Ara Poutama' Exhibition group show, Lopdell House Community Gallery
/ Resident Artist Tanya Maree Studio & Gallery
/ 'Whare Tangata' Exhibition group show, Lopdell House Community Gallery
/ Life Exhibition group show, Auckland Cancer Society, Aotea Centre
2004
/ Exhibit Waitakere City Hospital
/ Exhibit Lush Design Gallery
/ Commission 10 paintings, President Plaza Hotel
Navigating a resilient environmental art practice, by focusing on preserving, protecting, and regenerating the essence of Mauri (the life force) within local environment & communities. Speaker Tanya Te Miringa Te Rorarangi Ruka is a Māori artist and designer of Ngati Pakau, Te Uriroroi, Te Parawhau, Te Mahurehure Ngapuhi, and Waitaha Hokianga descent. Founder of Fog & Moon Studio and Region Net Positive Ltd. Tanya works with Mātauranga Māori (ancestral knowledge and navigational tools) to design pathways of transitional Indigenous Futures and Indigenous Speculative Design. Working in the digital realm and on the Whenua to firmly place indigenous concepts, knowledge, perspectives, and ways of being in the landless territories of new imagined futures. Ruka works with dedicated indigenous and non-indigenous textile researchers, academics, scientists, engineers, growers and local Iwi documenting the journey towards development of a circular design for native plant fibre materials and textiles that will help to connect people back to the land through indigenous ways of knowing. The Community Rongoā Forest in Brooklyn is a concept design weaving together the ancestral rongoā knowledge of Ruka’s great grandmother with integrated app based technology
PUBLICATIONS
Printed & online media authored by Tanya Ruka (& / or) multiple authors + artists, or artworks, art catalogues, essays, books, illustrating books + covers, magazines & articles.
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The Nature of Cities Global Roundtable: 'We have trouble getting people's attach about Climate Change -'
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Honouring the Mauri written by Tanya Ruka - Dominion Post column (30.06.22)
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What Stories Does the Land Hold? Questions for a Resilient Future Series. Center for Humans & Nature.
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How IOT, AI, Machine Learning and Robotics Collaboration with the Agricultural Sector could be an Opportunity for Global Environmental Recovery. Invited to write an article for Internet of Food & Farm Europe, 2020.
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Design and Nature: A Partnership. Ed. Kate Fletcher, Louise St. Pierre and Mathilda Tham. LEARNING FROM HARAKEKE TOWARDS A NETWORK OF KNOWLEDGE FOR TEXTILE DESIGN IN AOTEAROA NZ, authors Faith Kane, Huhana Smith, Rangi Te Kanawa, Tanya Maree Ruka Te Miringa Te Rorarangi and Angela Kilford.
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WEAVING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR AOTEAROA NZ: LEARNING FROM HARAKEKE
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MATERIALS DESIGN FOR SUSTAINABILITY
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TAKING STOCK AT MATARIKI
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MASTERS THESIS | KAITIAKITANGA
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UNFOLDING KAITIAKITANGA
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MFJ NO.61
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THE ROARING SILENCE
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NARRATING INDIGENOUS MODERNITIES.(cover)
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THE FAMILY TREE OF THE RAINBOW. (Childrens book cover)
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THE WHISPERS OF WAITAHA. (Illustrations)