Most of us own a piece of heirloom jewellery that lives tucked away in a box or folded into a delicate piece of cloth. But what happens when we consider jewellery as a symbol for intangible inheritance? In He momo, nā te whānau artists from across Aotearoa respond to this question with works made over a 20-year period. Cumulatively, they explore the qualities we receive from our parents, grandparents and our ancestors; while considering the cultural rituals, celebrations and baggage that bond the human race. Passing this provocation onto gallery visitors, they ask us what we are leaving behind for our children to inherit.

Warwick Freeman, Dead Set II (detail), 2006. Collection of The Suter

The artists in He momo, nā te whānau are Andrea Daly, Areta Wilkinson, Chris Charteris, Grace Yu Piper, Jane Dodd, Jen Laracy, Joe Sheehan, Keri-Mei Zagrobelna, Matthew McIntyre Wilson, Octavia Cook, Renee Bevan, Sione Monu, Victoria McIntosh and Warwick Freeman.

Sian van Dyk, the exhibition curator, has worked in galleries and museums across Aotearoa and is currently the Senior Curator at Te Manawa. She has a special interest in the everyday connections people form with craft objects and how this is translated through contemporary practice, which she has written about internationally. In 2015 she was the recipient of the Creative New Zealand Craft/Object Art Curator to Munich award. This culminated in the exhibition The Language of Things: Meaning and Value in Contemporary Jewellery (2018), which included over 100 artists from Europe, the USA, Australia, Asia and Aotearoa.

He momo, nā te whānau is a collaboration between Te Manawa, The Suter and Makers 101 and is generously supported by Creative New Zealand.