Nova Paul's work in Indigenous Triennial

Naadohbii: To Draw Water features work from Aotearoa artists Israel Birch, Nikau Hindin, Jeremy Leatinu’u, Nova Paul, Rachael Rakena and Keri Whaitiri, Naadohbii explores how each of its 28 artists engages with water in their practice, deeply rooted in the specificities of time, place and history. It is co-curated by Aotearoa curators Ioana Gordon-Smith and Reuben Friend along with Indigenous curators from Canada and Australia.

Nova Paul says being part of Naadohbii alongside many other indigenous artists is an honour. “Being part of this first Indigenous Triennial is meaningful. Seeing indigenous artists coalescing and connecting around the theme of water: water care, water ways as ancestors and water sovereignty highlights indigenous ways of approaching important environmental causes.”

In an essay on Contemporary HUM, Franchesca Hebert-Spence reviews the different iterations of Indigenous practice present in the exhibition and considers how the collaborative curatorial process fits within recent initiatives encouraging global Indigenous exchange while reinforcing individual visual sovereignty; how curators working in different international regions were able to strengthen the nuances in an inaugural Indigenous Triennial; and the inevitable discussion around the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, aspirations around hosting, and take-aways for future projects. 

"As Indigenous cultural producers, we can enact that sovereignty together and hold space for one another in that process—'Naadohbii: To Draw Water' soundly demonstrates this." - Franchesca Hebert-Spence.