Hau Kainga 2.0

Hau Kainga 2.0 is a large-scale woven installation that honours the whenua (land), moana (sea), and whakapapa (ancestral connections) of where I was raised in Te Tairāwhiti. Building on a recent exhibition at Tairāwhiti Museum with my two sisters, this project brings sculptural woven pods to life on the rocks at Tatarahake — forms handmade from natural fibres, each pod is a physical and spiritual offering, reflecting the land, sea, and people who shaped me. I’m crowdfunding to help bring this vision to life outdoors — supporting materials, documentation, and installation — and to deepen the connection between my traditional weaving practice and the living landscape of our East Coast.

Ko Fiona Collis toku ingoa. No Uawa ahau (Tolaga Bay). I’m a Maori fibre & textiles artist and weaver with over 20 years of experience, working with natural materials. My practice is grounded in traditional Maori weaving techniques and tikanga, and I often explore how these can be extended into contemporary sculptural forms that speak to place, whakapapa, and belonging.

Recently, my sisters and I opened our exhibition Hau Kainga at Tairawhiti Museum. Hau Kainga 2.0 grows from that kaupapa, taking the ideas beyond the gallery and into the landscape that inspired them.

My sisters, also weavers and artists, are a constant source of support and collaboration. My eldest sister Michelle brings depth to our kaupapa — she helps keep our purakau alive and is great at challenging our thinking in ways that strengthen the work. My sister Claudette is a practical problem-solver who helps ease pressure during big projects, and my nephew Te Whaitiri often assists with large-scale pieces and commissions. Our mother plays a key role behind the scenes, caring for my boys so I can fully focus on the creative process.

This is a whanau-led project — always guided by aroha, whakapapa, and our shared connection to home.

• Sourcing rattan and other materials to create larger sculptural forms
• Purchasing or replacing specialist tools needed for construction
• Paying a professional photographer and videographer to document the outdoor installation
• Printing high-quality photographs for exhibition and archival purposes
• Transporting the works to & from the site at Tatarahake
• Installation logistics (site prep, equipment, plynths or mounts, setup/pack down)
• Koha for collaborators or assistants helping with weaving & the installation
• Covering unexpected costs (weather protection, fixings, safety needs)

Hau Kainga 2.0 is about taking weaving home — not just in concept, but physically, back to the whenua and moana that shaped it. After exhibiting my woven sculptural pods as part of our whanau show at Tairawhiti Museum, I felt the next step was to grow the project — to create more forms, to increase the scale, and to challenge myself artistically and technically.

These sculptural works are made by hand using rattan — a strong, flexible material that allows for size and structure without compromising form. My intention is to temporarily install the works out on the rocks at Tatarahake, this place layered with ancestral memory. Our tipuna once gathered kai there, experienced loss there, walked those same rocks. It’s also the place I go to release and reset — even when the wind whips relentlessly and the tides rise high, it always a good experience.

The weaving is informed by what I feel in that space — the force of the elements, and the environment, the unseen stories held in the whenua and moana. The installation isn’t made to last outdoors, but it’s made to exist there for a moment, to interact with the taiao, and to be documented through film and photography for future exhibitions and storytelling.

This project is about process, people and place, it pushes my practice into new territory — from fibre to form, from gallery back to the beach — and holds space for connection, risk, and return.

This work needs to be experienced because it reconnects us to whenua, whakapapa, and the stories that live beneath the surface of everyday life. It honours weaving as a living practice — one that speaks across generations, across environments, and time.

By taking the work outside, Hau Kainga 2.0 invites people to experience Maori fibre art in a new way. Not behind glass, but out on the rocks — in direct relationship with the place that inspired it. Which is powerful and healing.

Backing this project means supporting indigenous storytelling, wahine-led art, and the preservation of cultural knowledge in evolving, contemporary forms. It’s a way to uplift something homegrown, deeply personal, and rooted in the East Coast.

This kaupapa is also about legacy. I want this work to stand as a beacon for rangatahi artists — showing them that our stories, our materials, and our ways of making are valid and meaningful. For our tamariki and mokopuna, it's a reminder that our voices belong here — and our art can shape the future just as much as it remembers the past.