MATARIKI 2024-2025
In celebration of Matariki (Maori New Year), Outloud collaborated with three artists of Maori, Pasifika and First Nations descent, Bria McCarthy, Benjamin Akuila & Morgan Hogg, pairing them up with Mentors, Gerome Te Peeti and Aunty Lyn Martin. The collaboration began with the artists and mentors having a conversation on their cultures’ mythology surrounding the rising of the stars, with each mentor sharing their culture’s connection to the Seven Sisters and Matariki. Following these conversations, each artist created response artworks about Matariki, incorporating what they had learnt from their mentors.
About the works
Bria McCarthy, ‘The Oldest Sisters In the World,’ Wiradjuri, 2024
Papercraft
‘This interactive shadow puppet zine is an extension of the short film “Murriyang: Seven Sisters Rising” that I made for Matiriki 2022. I wanted to make something interactive that audiences can take home and enjoy. The writing and illustration is my own adaptation of the 7 Sisters stories that exist across many Aboriginal Cultures, from which I have drawn out the themes and images that spoke most to me. This is a story that has stayed with me for years, and that I recall with a sense of kinship whenever I look to the night sky. It’s my pleasure and hope that it will be a story that many more Australians will get to know, as there is a world of story, magic and wisdom to be explored in our beautiful Southern skies.‘
Benjamin Akuila, ‘Wayfinding,’ 2024
Stoneware clay, gold spray paint, dimensions variable.
‘Wayfinding is a response to Matariki, the Māori New Year, a time of reflection, renewal, and connection to both the past and future. Through reimagining the nine star constellation in the medium of ceramics, I seek to honour the celestial traditions of my Tongan ancestors, who used the stars to navigate the vast Pacific. The use of clay as a medium holds significant importance in this work, making reference to the ceramic practice of the Lapita people. These early settlers of Tonga have a rich ceramic history, with sites of ceramics being spread across the Pacific. The gold finish of the stars reflects the brilliance of these guiding lights, symbolising the knowledge, wisdom, and cultural heritage passed down through generations. This material connection bridges the ancient and the contemporary, grounding my exploration of ancestral wayfinding practices in the tangible earth. Wayfinding recontextualizes traditional practices with contemporary materials, evoking a sense of place, identity, and belonging, while also celebrating the endurance of these practices, storytelling and oral histories within the Pacific.’
Morgan Hogg, ‘Your Seven Heavens,’ 2024
Photographic print on chiffon, Video Installation.
‘Pōhutukawa is the star in Matariki’s cluster that holds the memories of the loved ones we have lost. A flowing connection to the past and our ancestors who have come before us – allowing us to sit in space of remembrance of those who have walked, navigated and lived for the pathway for us to continue. This work acts as a performative representation of acknowledgment of oral traditions – reflecting hand movements in Cook Island Ura that tell stories through dance. It extends movement as a structure of holding space for our ancestors to be present in the performance, embodying the performers who come before us. The hand movements of ‘Tiare’ (flower), ‘Moana’ (Ocean) and ‘Aere Mai’ (Come here) – commonly used gestures to represent beauty, fluidity and power of a woman.
In reference to this work and title, Kauraka Kauraka was a Cook Island poet that deeply explains his connections to our ancestors and deities – his embedded understanding of the afterworld and the worlds between.
His poem, Rainbow Woman, reminded me of Papatūānuku, Mother Earth, and the interconnectedness of the heavens and the earth and the sense of longing for someone. Your Seven Heavens looks at the movements between gods, ancestors, elements and present storytelling – how we keep these alive to keep them in our minds.’
Matariki was proudly supported by the City of Canterbury Bankstown.
Matariki: Under the Stars, 2025
In collaboration with Bankstown Arts Centre, Outloud worked on the opening of the exhibition ‘Under the Stars.’
The exhibition explored Indigenous knowledge of astronomy and the night sky in alignment with the celebration of both Matariki (Māori New Year) and NAIDOC Week.
Developed from our 2024 Matariki residency, Bankstown Arts Centre curated and produced the exhibition with cultural consultation to invite sharing of star stories across First Nations cultures including Aboriginal, Maori and Pasifika artists.
The opening event was produced in collaboration with Bankstown Arts Centre, with a performance segment curated by Gerome Te Peeti, featuring Dhinawan Yarn and Te Raranga Whanui with a DJ set by Jessica Paraha.
Under the Stars is supported by Create NSW through an annual grant for the exhibition and project grant for the performances.
Photography by Liam Black
Matariki: Written in the Stars, 2025
Outloud & Bankstown Arts Centre, in collaboration with Gerome Te Peeti, presented Matariki: Written in the Stars!
Bringing together Māori and First Nations artists, we celebrated the Māori New Year and commemorated the rising of the Seven Sisters Star Constellation with a Matariki community celebration.
We were treated to performances from Kapahaka Group, Te Hoe ki Matangireia and Yidaki & Aboriginal Performance from Dhinawin Yaarn, as well as Star Stories of Australia and the Pacific, a conversation led by Gerome Te Peeti.
Written in the Stars is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
Photography by Justin Cueno
