Arielle Walker (Taranaki, Ngāruahine, Ngāpuhi, Pākehā) is a Tāmaki Makaurau-based contemporary artist, writer and maker.

Her creative practice seeks pathways towards reciprocal belonging through the intersections and connections between land, language, and craft, weaving together tactile storytelling and ancestral narratives. Contexts that surround this include the interconnectedness of isolated islands, the intrinsic ties of language and land, migration across the swell and pull of the ocean, pūrākau, textile traditions passed down through generations of tūpuna wāhine, roots and botanical belongings.

In 2024, she completed a PhD — Mending the Kupenga: Towards a Language of Reciprocity Between Ancestral Textile & Storytelling Practices — at AUT University, where she is to continue with a Post-Doctorate Research Fellow in Textiles.

  • AUT University: 2021 - 2024
    Doctor of Philosophy

    AUT University: 2019 - 2020
    Master of Visual Art (First Class)

    AUT University: 2012 – 2014
    Bachelor of Visual Art

  • Auckland Museum Institute Postgraduate Scholarship Award 2023

    AUT University Vice Chancellor's Doctoral Scholarship 2021

    AUT University Research Masters Scholarship 2019

    Textílsetur Íslands Textile Residency, Iceland, September 2018

    Invererne Summer Residency, Scotland, July 2018

    Estuary Art Awards People’s Choice Award, Malcolm Smith Gallery 2017

CV

Selected Exhibitions & Installations

  • Mending the Kupenga, Te Wai Ngutu Kākā, 27 June – 20 July, 2024

    whatuwai, Nathan Homestead Galleries, October 11 - November 25, 2023

    distance rewoven from the roots to the stem, Blue Oyster Art Project Space, April 15 - May 15, 2021

    On returning to the sea (part of Matariki MVA Graduate Exhibitions), ST PAUL Street Gallery, August 4 - 8, 2020

    Blanket Statement (installation), First Thursdays, Karangahape Road, August 4, 2016

    Safety Blanket/Blanket Statement (installations), White Night, Auckland Arts Festival, March 12, 2015

  • ngā rerenga whau (with Emily Parr, curated by Andrea Low), Kū Kahiko, Moana Fresh, December 12, 2021 – January 28, 2022

    Haratua (with Emily Parr), Whānau Mārama, Commercial Bay, June 18 – July 10, 2021

    Whatu Aho Rua (with Emily Parr), first shown as part of Speaking Surfaces, ST PAUL Street Gallery, October - December 2020

    Whatuora (with Emily Parr), first shown as part of Speaking Surfaces, ST PAUL Street Gallery, February - December 2020

    Nebula now! (Installation with Liam Mullins), Stellar Festival of Lights, July 12 - 14, 2019

    Nebula now! (Site-specific installation with Liam Mullins), Taranaki Festival of Lights, December 2018 - February 2019

    Parhelion (Site-specific installation with Liam Mullins), Splore Festival, February 23- 25, 2018

  • Walking Song, soft shell, 16 November – 14 December 2024

    Te Au: Liquid Constituencies, Govett-Brewster Gallery, 3 December 2022 – 20 March 2023

    Whānau Mārama, Commercial Bay, June 18 – July 10, 2022

    Whānau Mārama, Commercial Bay, 18 June – 10 July, 2021

    Cloth, Masterworks Gallery, 17 April – 15 May, 2021

    A Very Different World, Te Tuhi, 13 February – 9 May, 2021

    Whitu, Masterworks Gallery, June 20 - July 18, 2020

    groundwork, the Barrel Store @ Corban Estate Arts Centre, 13 – 16 February, 2020

    Fine Threads Thick Colour, Allpress Studio, 19 – 28 November, 2019

    On the button, Masterworks Gallery, 25 August – 21 September, 2019

    Labour of Body, Corban Estate Art Centre, 26 July – 15 September, 2019

    Hear Me Roar, Weasel Gallery, 10 July – 3 August, 2019

    The Cost of Living, RM Gallery, 6 December, 2018

    Gluggaveður, Bílskúrs Gallerí, Blönduós, Iceland, 26 September, 2018

    Empowering Women - 125 Years of Women's Suffrage in Aotearoa, Masterworks Gallery, 26 August – 15 September, 2018

    Give me space, Corban Estate Art Centre, 20 July – 2 September, 2018

    Estuary Art Awards, Malcolm Smith Gallery, 10 June – 15 July, 2017

    Sampler, Masterworks, 29 March – 22 April, 2017

    (it’s pretty open) a drawing show, DEMO, 14 – 24 April, 2016

    Best of the Best, Waiheke Community Gallery, 22 January – 22 Feb, 2016

    Best In Show, Objectspace, 18 April – 16 May, 2015

Selected writing publications & papers

  • river poems (chapbook), in AUP New Poets 9 (AUP, 2023)

    kawakawa (poem fragment from rongoā), in Remember Me: Poems to Learn by Heart from Aotearoa New Zealand, edited by Anne Kennedy (AUP, 2023)

    Two readings for The Poetry Shelf Cafe readings: 8 poets celebrate National Poetry Day, 2023

    dream futures from a plant placed beneath your tongue (poem), in No Other Place to Stand - An Anthology of Climate Change Poetry from Aotearoa New Zealand (AUP, 2022)

    here are all the ways the story is the same (poem), in Sweet Mammalian Issue 8, 2021 and Te Awa o Kupu, edited by Vaughn Rapatahana and Kiri Pirihana-Wong (Penguin Random House, 2023)

    the imagery of trees and trust with your skin (poems), in Turbine | Kapohau, 2020

    Whatu Aho Rua (collaborative filmpoem with Emily Parr), Lieu Journal, December 2020

    dream futures from a plant placed beneath your tongue and skin (poems), Oscen: MYTHS, November 2020

    as whenua holds/is held | a response to Ashleigh Taupaki Matā (lyric essay), RM Gallery, October 2020

    Untangling the aho (lyric essay), Tupuranga Journal Issue Lua: A Whole New World, September 2020

    a poem is a fluid thing all wrapped up in fish skin (poem), Stasis Journal Issue One, June 2020

    whatuora, (in conversation with Emily Parr), Kei Te Pai Journal, May 2020

    Te pūrākau o Taranaki and all rivers (poems), Tupuranga Journal Issue Tahi, May 2020

    The Single Object at Home: Thread Box (article), Objectspace Journal, April 2020

    River Maps and Te pūrākau o Taranaki (reading), LOUNGE #68, June 2019

    A tale of sheep and golden light (article), Art News New Zealand, 2019

  • Whatu: to see, to weave; also stone (presentation ). Vā Kōrero with Nālani Wilson Hokowhitu and Arielle Walker, Vā Moana – Pacific Spaces, October 2023

    To see, to weave; also stone, a stone like an anchor
    (conference contribution). Vā Hine session, ASAO Kona, February 2023

    Untangling threads: forming reparative relationships in the spaces between our ancestral stories and textile crafts (conference contribution) Old Stories, New Narratives symposium, Applied Arts Scotland, Edinburgh College of Art, MSVU Art Gallery, The Dr Sandra Alfoldy Craft Institute, NSCAD, September 2021

    Kōrerorero (Artist talk and making space), Blue Oyster Art Project Space, May, 2021

    The Memory of Water (conference contribution with Emily Parr), Global Asia/Pacific Art Exchange Aotearoa: Ngā Tai o te Ao: Global Tides, June 24, 2020

    Photographic media in installational practice (artist talk), ASATA Conference, July 1, 2019

    Bright Ideas: #1 Arielle Walker and Ramon Robertson (artist talk), Malcolm Smith Gallery, June 21, 2017

    The Hand-Maker’s Mill Makerspace (co-run with Winnie Edgar-Booty), Onehunga Creative Arts Day, March 4, 2017

    Experimental Bakery Makerspace (co-run with Grace McArthur), Auckland Arts Festival, March 12, 2016

    Meet the Makers - Best In Show 2015 (artist talk), Objectspace, May 9, 2015

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