Tanya Te Miringa Te Rorarangi Ruka is CIRCUIT’s inaugural Kaitiaki Kiriata, an annual role that supports a Māori curator to develop moving image projects which speak through the lens of Te Ao Māori.
Tanya will work with CIRCUIT to curate the annual Masons Screen Matariki commission and a screening of works by CIRCUIT artists at the Wairoa Māori Film Festival. In addition, Tanya will be working with CIRCUIT and a cohort of Māori artists to look at new pathways to support Māori artists working with CIRCUIT.
Tanya is a Māori artist of Ngā Puhi, Ngati Pakau and Waitaha descent. Her practice encompasses moving image, installation and site specific works. The focus of her arts-based research practice is the development of possible net positive futures from an indigenous perspective. Exploring the inherent need to connect to nature on a deeper level living in an urban environment, Ruka examines this innate relationship to nature as a Māori artist. In 2021, she was Curator for Oceania at the Nature of Cities Festival, a global online festival that sought to "to radically imagine our cities for the future."
CIRCUIT invited Tanya to conceive a title for the role. She says:
"The word Kiriata (film) is so visually inspiring: it brings together 'Kiri' which as a noun means skin, bark, rind or person, or a figurative sense of self. 'Ata' has a variety of meanings including: morning, form, reflected image, reflection, shadow, computer icon.
Mātauranga opens up a multiverse of creative pathways to known and unknown worlds. I am honoured to be invited by CIRCUIT to embody the role of Kaitiaki Kiriata and I am looking forward to connecting, sharing and collaborating with whanaunga ringatoi (artist relatives) in 2024."