Ngahina Hohaia

Ngaahina Hohaia (born 1975) is an interdisciplinary artist of Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Moeahu, Ngāti Haupoto, and Greek descent. Raised in Parihaka, a site of 19th-century non-violent Māori resistance, she draws deeply on ancestral knowledge behind customary weaving traditions creating art and
3
installations of ahi ka, continuous occupation and steadfast power.
Hohaia earned a Master of Māori Visual Arts from Toioho ki Āpiti, Massey University, 2009, she received the Arts Foundation of New Zealand New Generation Award in 2010. Hohaia's work directly addresses colonisation, land dispossession, and the legacy of Parihaka as a non-violent resistance, themes that are central to current discourses in Aotearoa New Zealand art and institutional practice. Hohaia’s works are held in major collections including Te Papa Tongarewa, her practice is infused with mātauranga Māori with a deep focus in customary raranga techniques. She works across installation, fibre sculpture, body adornment including jewellery.
Her work critically examines colonial power while asserting mana tangata whenua, authority of indigenous people over that power. Often referencing the history of Parihaka as a site of peaceful resistance led by spiritual and political leaders Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi, Hohaia’s works are of a quietly determined revolutionary power.