Harete Tito
Ko Taranaki whānui,
Ko Tūhourangi - Ngāti Wāhiao, Ko Ngāti Pikiao, Ko Te Whānau a Apanui ōku iwi.
Artist Statement
Harete Tito is a full time Māori artist (19 years) whose work has featured at home in Aotearoa and overseas including Turkey, Colombia, Brazil, USA, Indonesia, Canada and Australia.
Her creative work is a collaboration with nature and her ongoing project: Whenua (Earth), Wai (Water), Ao Mārama (Light), Kohatu (Stone) is a gathering of nature to share stories of connection that speak for the environment and for humanity.
Harete was introduced to uku in 1994 under the tutelage of sculptor George Andrews who first exposed her to raku firing which set a foundation and love for raku and low resource firing. She 'had a go' at throwing on the wheel but soon realised working with the clay in ‘hands-off- the-wheel’ ways gave her a more free and intimate connection with the material.
For Harete, uku is a connection to land, place, stories and healing and her preference is of uku harvested from the whenua, and raku firing with the use of earth pigments. Her main uku form has been simple, hand built ipu/vessels and which are used both creatively and ceremonially. As a papermaker, she has also brought the two mediums together in conversation.
She is driven to utilise all natural materials including uku, whenua, native rākau for colour and paper as a form of reclamation, sharing mātauranga Māori through storytelling to ensure a sustainable creative practice where at any time, the entire work can be returned to the earth.
