Sari Braithwaite
Film/Video
2024
Read MoreMadison Kelly (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Pākeha) is an artist, percussionist, and kaiārahi/forest guide based in Ōtepoti Dunedin on the east coast of Te Waipounamu, Aotearoa’s South Island.
Grounded in Kāitahutaka (Kāi Tahu lifeways) their practice celebrates field research, mark making, and percussion as kindred sensory interfaces for learning and sharing a living multispecies whakapapa (ancestry). With a focus on participation, recent works offer systems of drawing, metalworking, weaving, glass blowing, space and sound design as invitations into relational experiences of Te Taiao (the natural world). Kelly’s practice is significantly shaped by their whakapapa to Te Waipounamu, and their work as lead guide at Te Korowai o Mihiwaka, Orokonui Ecosanctuary, which operates in partnership with Kelly’s local hapū (subtribe) Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki.
Madison Kelly is the inaugural fellow of the McCahon House Fellowship. Their time at Bundanon will focus on exploring what it is to conduct whakapapa-led research practice as manuhiri (visitor), and developing forms through which to share relational, multispecies stories. With an initial focus on pōhatu (rocks) as deep time connective figures, Kelly will continue testing methods of field data collection and percussive touch/sound surfaces as vessels for knowledge holding.