DEDWOOD reclaims the colonial and Māori names of Ponsonby (Te Tahi Rimu), examining histories of erasure and resilience shaped by gentrification and displacement.
Using industrial materials like steel, timber, and plywood, it embodies the weight of these transformations, reflecting on how colonisation and urban development have shaped and divided ownership, sovereignty, and belonging.
It affirms that connection to whenua, moana and awa is the foundation of Aotearoa’s identity and future, declaring that Māori and marginalised cultures are not dead— they are living, breathing, evolving, and essential to the ongoing creation.
