Matariki Williams is a

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

curator and writer based in Whakatāne, New Zealand. In 2021, she was appointed Pou Matua Mātauranga Māori, Senior Historian,

Mātauranga Māori Mātauranga (literally ''Māori knowledge'') is a modern term for the traditional knowledge of the Māori people of New Zealand. Māori traditional knowledge is Interdisciplinarity, multi-disciplinary and Logical holism, holistic, and there is c ...

at Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. She is a member of the

Ngāi Tūhoe Ngāi Tūhoe (), often known simply as Tūhoe, is a Māori people, Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand. It takes its name from an ancestral figure, Tūhoe-pōtiki. ''Tūhoe'' is a Māori-language word meaning 'steep' or 'high noon'. Tūhoe people a ...

Ngāti Whakaue Ngāti Whakaue is a Māori iwi, of the Te Arawa confederation of New Zealand, tracing its descent from Whakaue Kaipapa, son of Uenuku-kopakō, and grandson of Tūhourangi. The tribe lives in the Rotorua district and descends from the Arawa w ...

, and

Ngāti Hauiti Ngāti Hauiti is a Māori people, Māori iwi of New Zealand. It is centred in the Rangitikei, New Zealand, Rangitikei area of the lower North Island. Awa FM is the radio station of Ngāti Hauiti, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi and Ngāti Hāua. It ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

Early life and education

Williams grew up in

Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...

. She obtained an undergraduate degree in

Māori studies New Zealand studies is the academic field of area studies of New Zealand. Māori studies is the academic field of cultural studies of the New Zealand Māori. The main New Zealand universities all have a School of Māori Studies. On Waitangi ...

and history at the

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

. She pursued a master's degree in Museum and Heritage Studies.

Career

Williams became a Matauranga Maori curator at

Te Papa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa (Māori language, Māori for 'Waka huia, the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the Nation ...

in late 2016. Williams is co-founder of and co-editor (alongside Bridget Reweti) of ATE Journal of Maori Arts. In 2024, she was involved in New Zealand's delegation to the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

Personal life

As of 2020, Williams has a partner and two children.

Publications

* ''Protest: Tautohetohe: Objects of Resistance, Persistence and Defiance'' (2019), coauthor * ''Te Manu Huna A Tāne'' (2020), contributor

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century New Zealand women writers 21st-century New Zealand writers New Zealand Māori writers New Zealand Māori women New Zealand curators New Zealand women curators Ngāi Tūhoe people Ngāti Whakaue people Ngāti Hauiti people People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa {{NewZealand-writer-stub