6 June–15 November 2026

Heidi Brickell

Contemporary artist Heidi Brickell presents a major new artwork for Toi Tauranga Art Gallery’s main gallery space. Situated between mahi ā tinana and mahi ā wairua, between land and sky, the visible and invisible, her installation connects deeply to Māori cosmology as the artist explores the light of the celestials and the whakapapa  of emotions such as grief and isolation. 

Mahi ā tinana - physical work or activity

Mahi ā wairua - spiritual work or practice such as quiet reflection, meditation, karakia or prayer

Whakapapa - connections, relationships, lineage

Image: PAKANGA FOR THE LOSTGIRL installation view, The Engine Room, Wellington. Photo: Harry Culy

Artist Bios

Heidi Brickell (Te Hika o Pāpāuma, Ngāti Kahungunu, Rongomaiwahine, Rangitāne, Ngāi Tara, Ngāti Apakura, Airihi, Kōtirana, Ingarangi, Tiamana) is a contemporary visual artist based in Ōtaki, with a background in Māori education and te reo Māori revitalisation.

Playful and intuitive, Brickell’s art practice connects the indigeneity of her Māori ancestors and how they saw the world, to the changing and shifting materialities of te ao hurihuri. Drawing from the oral and visual languages of island and ocean homes, she uses art to bring cultural dialogues and ideas into situ as material forms, to places where language cannot reach alone.

Heidi’s work has recently featured in major surveys of national contemporary art at Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery and Te Puna o Waiwhetū Christchurch Art Gallery, who both hold her work in collections. Recent solo exhibitions include Wā We Can’t Afford at Hastings Art Gallery, A Koru is a Trajectory at Enjoy Gallery and PAKANGA FOR THE LOSTGIRL which toured from Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery in Tāmaki Mākaurau Auckland to Ōtautahi Christchurch and Pōneke Wellington from 2022-23.

(Photo: Riki Gooch)

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