Tessa Williams

Ngāti Rakiapaaka, Ngāti Kahungungu

Tessa is currently in her final year of the Bachelor of Māori Visual Arts programme at Massey University in Palmerston North. In 2021, she won merit awards at two national art awards; Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Award and the Kiingi Tuheitia Portrait Award.

She is an interdisciplinary artist, who places her voice as a Māori mother at the centre of her practice. Through an understanding of how she lives today will impact the world her descendants live in, she explores sustainable methods and materials when creating. To Tessa, this unapologetically declares the relationship Māori have with their environment. Major themes in Tessa’s work address current issues affecting Māori, whakapapa and mauri.

All images below are from Tessa’s website