This work, planned for Sculpture on the Gulf 2027, is an exploration of what taonga means and the many ways we hold memory, record time and make meaning. Each object/artefact/taonga is collected across a field of ideas and places. To change the world gently, or not at all, is the request of this artist and this project. What we hold on to matters, and what we let go of leaves a trace; both create ripples through time that we may never see return, but our descendants may remember.
Description: A beautiful piece of pounamu green corrugated plastic about 100mm by 60mm
Maker: Unknown
Date Made: Unknown
Signature/Marks: Unknown
Medium/Material: Plastic
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Provenance: found on Waitara beach
Condition: smoothed by the sea and sand
Description: Small packets of bells. Various sizes and shapes.
Maker: Unknown
Date Made: Unknown
Signature/Marks: NA
Medium/Material: folded metal, gold coloured
Whakapapa: silence, sound, and metal.
Provenance: Craft supplies shop, bought from Salvation Army Waitara, 2025, kept in studio until display.
Condition: Still in ziplock bags, as new, no marks or degraded metal.
Description: White net floater that is weathered with marks and scratches.
Maker: Unknown
Date Made: Unknown
Signature/Marks: NA
Medium/Material: Plastic and polystyrene
Whakapapa: Many net floaters are made from the wood of the whau tree.
Provenance: Found on Waitara beach.
Condition: in usable condition but bereft of fisthing net.
Description: Small wooden egg painted in Aalto ultramarine acrylic paint.
Maker: Elliot Collins
Date Made: 2020
Signature/Marks: None
Medium/Material: acrylic on wood
Whakapapa: I’ve been working on an artwork about extinct native birds. This one hasn’t come to fruition, but it will one day.
Provenance: Made in the studio here in Waitara. Rested in a bird's nest that fell from a tree during a storm.
Condition: Good condition, no marks, completely painted in blue paint.
Description: a bag of tapestry wool in various colours
Maker: see label
Date Made: unknown
Signature/Marks: none
Medium/Material: wool
Whakapapa: Korowai (tasselled cloaks) developed from pake (rain capes). Pake were covered with flat leaf strips that had a practical purpose – to channel rain off the cloak and keep the wearer dry. Innovative weavers transformed these practical strips into elegant tassels. Korowai take their name from korokoro (loose) and wai (water, or flowing). Distinctive hukahuka (tassels) cascade down these garments, rippling and swaying with the wearer’s every movement. *
Provenance: bought from the Salvation Army
Condition: as new, however, they will wear in the weather
Description: ten-cent piece
Maker: The New Zealand Mint
Date Made: See date
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Medium/Material: steel plated with copper
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Condition: a little tarnished
Description: a collection of picture framing strings taken off old paintings.
Maker: unknown
Date Made: unknown
Signature/Marks: none
Medium/Material: cotton, nylon, wire, rope, polyester, metal
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Condition: various conditions, mostly worn and yellowed, rust stains on material, knotted strings
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Description: small silver coloured metal carabiner
Maker: unknown
Date Made: unknown
Signature/Marks: none
Medium/Material: metal
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Provenance: found in the everything drawer, home kitchen, Waitara, probably travelled from Mangere Bridge, Tāmaki Makaurau.
Condition: as new
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Description: a child's bracelet of an elastic band with white, blue, silver, and clear beads. A single flower bead in its center.
Maker: unknown
Date Made: unknown
Signature/Marks: none
Medium/Material: plastic and elastic
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Provenance: found in a field while walking the dog
Condition: still wearable and probably missed by a small child
Description: Used facemask, a white face shield and black strings
Maker: Miniso
Date Made: unknown
Signature/Marks: name of maker
Medium/Material: non-woven fabric
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Provenance: Found on Oneroa beach foreshore, collected by Helen Collins (my mum).
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Description: a strong brass clip and hook used to connect naval flags together.
Maker: unknown
Date Made: unknown
Signature/Marks: makers’ marks
Medium/Material: brass
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Condition: good condition for a used item at sea
Description: used and discarded cotton wool bud
Maker: Johnson and Johnson
Date Made: unknown
Signature/Marks: none
Medium/Material: plastic and cotton wool
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Condition: used, grey cotton, chewed plastic, not long for this world but will somehow live forever
Description: Roman-era copper brooch or fibula
Maker: unknown
Date Made: unknown
Signature/Marks: none
Medium/Material: copper
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Condition: missing its pin, corroded over time, and has green patina
Description: white fishing wire all tied together
Maker: unknown
Date Made: unknown
Signature/Marks: none
Medium/Material: fishing wire, plastic
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Condition: tangled in some seaweed
Description: a cotton hanky that is coloured with orange, brown, and white stripes that cross over to make a pattern.
Maker: unknown
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Signature/Marks: none
Medium/Material: cotton
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Condition: relatively good, slight fraying
Description: small white plastic stick
Maker: unknown
Date Made: unknown
Signature/Marks: chew marks
Medium/Material: plastic
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Provenance: my mum collected it from Oneroa Beach, Waiheke, 2025
Condition: chewed plastic end, not pure white
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Description: Small piece of bright orange plastic. Potentially from a full circular form.
Maker: unknown
Date Made: unknown
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Medium/Material: plastic
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Provenance: found on the beach in a pile of seaweed, made in an unknown factory
Condition: on its way to microplastic
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Description: Cuisenaire rods, which are mathematics learning aids for pupils that provide an interactive, hands-on way to explore mathematics and learn mathematical concepts, such as the four basic arithmetical operations, working with fractions, and finding divisors. In the early 1950s, Caleb Gattegno popularised this set of coloured number rods created by Georges Cuisenaire (1891–1975), a Belgian primary school teacher, who called the rods réglettes.
Maker: unknown
Date Made: 1952
Signature/Marks: none
Medium/Material: coloured plastic
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Condition: the same as the day they were bought but with a hole in them
Description: Brooch worn by followers of TW Ratana, which is about 60mm in diameter
Maker: unknown
Date Made: unknown
Signature/Marks: none
Medium/Material: brass and enamel paint
Whakapapa: At first, Rātana encouraged people to continue attending their own Christian churches, but differences of beliefs led Rātana to establish his own church in 1925 – Te Haahi Rātana, the Rātana Church.
Provenance: kept inside a blue Rātana church prayer booklet
Condition: dulled over time
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Description: Collection of fossilsed sharks teeth
Maker: the shark
Date Made: unknown
Signature/Marks: none
Medium/Material: enamel
Whakapapa: Tangaroa
Provenance: unknown
Condition: near-perfect condition, shiny teeth, and dull poke-marked tooth base.
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Description: collection of pounamu offcuts smoothed by a tumbler to a high polish.
Maker: Elliot Collins
Date Made: Unknown/2026
Signature/Marks: none
Medium/Material: poumanu
Whakapapa: Poutini
Provenance: Collected after a carver discarded them post preparing larger work collected from the Arahuru, Hokitika
Condition: high polish with a single hole, a range of different colours with differing hues and flecks of colour, mainly white.
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Description: Champagne coloured scrunchy
Maker: Unknown
Date Made: Unknown
Signature/Marks: None
Medium/Material: elastic and glossy fabric
Whakapapa: Unknown
Provenance: found at a sports field during a high school league game
Condition: Still in usable condition
Description: small Roman-era copper ring, tarnished and smoothed over time
Maker: Unknown
Date Made: Unknown
Signature/Marks: None
Medium/Material: Copper
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Provenance: Trademe
Condition: good condition for its age
Description: Small piece of white shell with holes in it
Maker: crustation
Date Made: Unknown
Signature/Marks: None other than all the holes
Medium/Material: shell/calcium
Whakapapa: Tangaroa
Provenance: found on Moureeses beach, Whananaki, Northland
Condition: as expected
Description: Black brooch made with enamel and gold-coloured nickel. 60mm diameter, two butterfly clasps on reverse.
Maker: Elliot Collins
Date Made: 2020
Signature/Marks: None
Medium/Material: enamel paint and metal
Whakapapa: This comes from Roland Bathes quote about the idea of a journey.
Provenance: 300 Made in Auckland and held in many private collections of people's coats.
Condition: shiny and round, will survive a wash cycle.
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