Johnson Witehira

about

Kia ora! Ko Johnson Witehira tōku ingoa. Ki te haha toku whaea, no Whanganui ahau. Ko Tamahaki te iwi, ko Ngāti Hinekura te hapu. Ki te haha toku matua, No Nga Pūhi ahau. Ko Ngāi Tū-te-auru te hapu. I’m an artist, designer, and researcher. My areas of of expertise are Māori design, contemporary Māori art and indigenous design methods.

Most of the art and design projects I work on relate to the theme of decolonising design. Mostly, I’m interested in how design can be used to change the mono-cultural landscape of Aotearoa. As an academic and researcher I’m also involved in helping to bring through a generation of new designers. Ones with the vision and skills to weave Māori knowledge, ways of being and Māori values into the lives of all New Zealanders.


I’m available for commissions, collaborations, and I can be reached here.

JohnsonWitehira_profile.JPG
 

E tipu, e rea, mō ngā rā o tō ao;
ko to ringaringa ki ngā rākau a te Pākehā hei oranga mō tō tinana
ko tō ngākau ki ngā taonga o ō tīpuna hei tikitiki mō tō māhunga

Thrive in the days destined for you,
your hand to the tools of the Pākehā to provide physical sustenance,
your heart to the treasures of your ancestors to adorn your head

Tā Āpiranga Ngata

 

Kia ora! Ko Johnson Witehira tōku ingoa. Ki te taha tōku whaea, no Whanganui ahau. Ko Tamahaki te iwi, ko Ngāti Hinekura te hapū. Ki te taha tōku matua, No Ngāpuhi ahau. Ko Ngāi Tū-te-auru te hapū. I’m an artist, designer and researcher of Māori and Pākehā (British descent). I’ve been on a journey into Māori art and design since completing my Masters in Graphic Design (2007) and then my Doctorate in Māori visual arts (2013). I spend most of my time thinking about how we, Māori, did things in the past, and how we might apply our mātauranga (knowledge) to contemporary problems. My thoughts and writings on Māori design have been published in some of the worlds leading academic journals and books including; Visible Language (University of Cincinnati), The Graphic Design Reader (Bloomsbury), AIGA Eye on Design (US), Novum (Munich) and Monocle (London).

My kaupapa (mission) as both an artist and designer is to bring Māori visual culture back into the lives of all Māori. This is done through careful consideration of how indigenous culture, design and technology intersect. We once created all the things in our world; the clothes, buildings, vehicles and tools. Nowadays everything is made for us. If we’re lucky we get to decorate. I want to put Māori back in the drivers seat, so we’re active participants in creating the tools and the world we want to live in.

There’s a lot of work to do and I can’t do it on my own. So, at the end of 2017 I joined forces with Miriame Barbarich and John Moore to form Indigenous Design and Innovation Aotearoa (IDIA for short). IDIA is about designing futures through an indigenous lens. As the work quickly grew at IDIA we soon realized we needed more Māori designers so we created ĀPŌPŌ, Wellington’s first and only Indigenous Creativetech hub. Here we’re able to support and work with other Māori working in the design and technology industries.

During one of my first forays into landscape design and architecture, I met and worked alongside the talented Clynt White. Since then we’ve collaborated on a wide range of projects, exploring how we can re-imagine the built environment from an iwi and hapū-centric lens. Where functioning products are concerned, meaning ones humans can use, I’m also lucky to be working with Jamie Prier as a co-founder at PAKU. Our first PAKU project, a set of Māori gardening tools released 2021, has since gone on to win several local and international design awards.

Beyond design, I maintain a practice as a contemporary Māori artist. Here my work remains concerned with tinorangatiratanga (self-determination) and how Māori aspirations might be brought to fruition. In my art, this goal is realized through collaborative projects with ngā iwi (tribes) Māori, where I’m given the privilege and responsibility of bringing important tūpuna (ancestors) and stories to life. My art practice also provides a place for me to experiment, have some fun, collaborate and to re-imagine how we might create art. Here, digital technologies play a big part in my exploration of contemporary Māori art and identity.