Photo caption: UC Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies 2025 Artist in Residence Tiana Malina Te Rongopatahi Mo’iha is an educator, musician, artist, activist and cultural innovator.
A Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiian), Tongan, Filipino wahine māhū from Hāna Maui, Kingdom of Hawai’i, Tiana Malina Te Rongopatahi Mo’iha is known for her multifaceted practice as an educator, musician, artist, activist and cultural innovator. She is the founder and Chief Executive of Indi-Genius Minds, an organisation creating cultural artefacts and educational programmes that reconnect people with nature, identity and Indigenous knowledge.
Te Rongopatahi Mo’iha has been appointed as the 2025 Artist in Residence at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury’s Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies in Ōtautahi Christchurch. During the three-month residency, she will work with University of Canterbury (UC) students, staff and the wider community through workshops and performances.
From 13 – 16 October she will exhibit her work, offer free workshops and join an artists’ discussion panel at the Adaptation Futures 2025 conference, the world’s biggest climate adaptation conference, co-hosted by UC in Ōtautahi.
Her project, Kukulu Hale; Kukulu Kaiaulu, explores the physical and symbolic act of building a hale (house) while nurturing kaiaulu (community), drawing on the Indigenous Hawaiian practice of kūkulu hale, or traditional architecture.
Through the building of a hale, participants will enter a living process—one that goes beyond structures to foster relationships, knowledge-sharing and resilience across oceans. Materials will be gathered respectfully from the lands and waters of Waitaha, Te Waipounamu and Moananuiākea, ensuring the work honours both the environment and community it sustains. By linking ancestral knowledge from Hawai‘i, Aotearoa and the wider Pacific, Te Rongopatahi Mo’iha seeks to strengthen dialogue and resilience between communities facing the challenges of climate change.
She says her practice is guided by the Hawaiian proverb “Ma ka hana ka ‘ike – in working one learns.”
“I am excited by the residency and the opportunity to engage with both the University and the Ōtautahi community,” she said at her welcome.
Distinguished Professor Steven Ratuva, UC Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific, said her appointment was a significant addition to the University’s creative and cultural landscape.
“We are very fortunate to have Tiana as Artist in Residence as her artistic skills are of very high calibre, trans-Pacific, interdisciplinary and span across traditional architecture, music and other forms of creative expressions.”
Te Rongopatahi Mo’iha’s residency, running from August to October 2025, is supported by Creative New Zealand and reflects UC’s commitment to celebrating Indigenous knowledge and creativity, while building bridges across the Pacific through the arts.
Exhibition and Workshop Details
Fibre Gallery, Level 1, 285 Cashel Street
The exhibition opens on Monday 13 October from 5.30pm
The free workshops run from Tuesday 14 – 16 October between 11am – 4pm
All ages and experience levels are welcome and materials are provided.
More information: https://adaptationfutures2025.com/programme/outreach
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15 - Responsible consumption and production.
