Ati Teepa

Tūhoe, Kāi Tahu

Ati Teepa is an artist and poet based in Ruatoki. He has extensive experience working in the creative arts sector, as a creative producer, public programming producer at Te Papa Tongarewa and as a senior kaupapa Māori advisor at Toi Rauwharangi, College of Creative Arts, Massey University. Recently Ati’s work has included Associate Producer for the film Muru (2022); a collaboration with Tame Iti for the exhibition, I will not speak Māori (2022) and a visual storytelling collaboration in Ōtepoti Dunedin with the Mana Moana collective (2023). 

As a writer, Ati draws inspiration from his whānau, whenua and the stories of Te Urewera, his home. Ati is currently one of the inaugural fellows of the Tuwhare Creative Residency and is working on his first poetry publication.

In October 2023, Ati showed his new works at the exhibition ‘Blood and Bone’. These works are place based poetry painted in pigments gathered from the area he is writing about.

All images below belong to Ati Teepa