Te Marunui Hotene and Thom Hinton
Te Ata Pō
Te Marunui Hotene Te pō, 2026 (installation)
Grace presents Te Ata Pō, an exhibition by Te Marunui Hotene and Thom Hinton.
Te Ata Pō — or “the time before dawn” — brings together two practices grounded in distinct cultural histories and relationships to place. While Hotene draws on mau rākau, whakapapa and the whenua of Tūhoe, Hinton looks to European cosmology and ancient histories of mark-making. Their practices find points of connection through drawing, symbolism and the embodiment of the past within the present.
Te Ata Pō will be accompanied by a commissioned essay by writer and curator, Ruth Minh Ha.
Thom Hinton Smiling Purple, 2026 Oil, charcoal, oil stick on linen 1020 x 1520
Smiling Purple, 2026 (detail)
Taku pōhēhē nui, 2026 (installation)
Te Marunui Hotene Taku pōhēhē nui, 2026 Pencil on paper, burnt Mānuka frame 300 x 400
Te Marunui Hotene Mana wahine, 2016 & Whakaaro nui, 2016
Te Marunui Hotene Mana wahine, 2016 Mixed media on paper 280 x 420
Te Marunui Hotene Whakaaro nui, 2016 Mixed media on paper 280 x 420
Hide (small piece of land), 2026 (installation)
Thom Hinton Hide (small piece of land), 2026 Charcoal, acrylic on linen 200 x 300
Te Marunui Hotene and Thom Hinton Te Ata Pō, 2026 (installation)
Te Marunui Hotene Rangirua, 2026 Pencil on paper, burnt Mānuka frame 300 x 400
Rangirua, 2026 (detail)
Thom Hinton Monday 15th of June (new moon), 2026 Charcoal graphite calico on linen 200 x 300
Thom Hinton Babbling Dun, 2026 Oil, charcoal, graphite, plaster, linen 250 x 300
Babbling Dun, 2026 (detail)
Te Marunui Hotene Te pō, 2026 Burnt Mānuka Dimensions variable
Te pō, 2026 (detail)
Te Marunui Hotene and Thom Hinton Te where kōrero, 2026; Slaking, 2026 (installation)
Te Marunui Hotene Taku where kōrero, 2026 Pencil and ink on paper, burnt Mānuka frame 480 × 570
Taku where kōrero, 2026 (detail)
Thom Hinton Slaking, 2026 Charcoal, oxide, clay, plaster 260 × 340
Slaking, 2026 (detail)
Thom Hinton (b. Worcestershire) is an artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Hinton emigrated from the UK in 2005. He holds an MFA from Elam School of Fine Art and established the tattoo studio Bruce in 2022.
Thom Hinton’s work explores archetypal symbols from European cosmology, in the context of a deep sense of time and place. He questions how ancient history has impacted contemporary structures and shapes our understanding of reverence and beauty today. Hinton’s painting takes stage on a threshold, examining how expression is manifested through phenomena such as scale, rhythm and the simulation of somatic processes.
His previous exhibitions include Annwn at play_station, Pōneke; Dogsbody with Erika Holm, at Grace, Tāmaki Makaurau (2024) and Nuance (group) Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin (2024).
Te Marunui Hotene (Tūhoe and Ngāti Pūkeko) is an artist based in Taneatua, a small town ten kilometres south east of Whakatāne. He holds a Master of Visual Arts from Waikato Institute of Technology.
Te Marunui Hotene’s visual arts practice critically reflects his journey of grounding in his cultural identity. His recent pencil drawings utilise realism in documenting scenes from mau rākau wananga held in the tribal lands of Tuhoe in recent years. His practice of mau rākau has introduced mānuka as both subject and framing device, which he is now exploring through its burning as visual arts practice and tikanga. He is focused towards the cultural development of his whanau and in fostering whanau-led wananga towards original ways of preserving kōrero and whakapapa.
His previous exhibitions include E Awa Te Ara at Whakatāne Art Gallery (2026) and Tawharautia Mataatua at Whakatāne Art Gallery (2025). His public commissions include contributions to the Boon St Festival, Waikato (2020, 2022, 2025), and the Whakatāne Skatepark mural (2022).
Bleak Wolds, 2026 (installation)
Thom Hinton Bleak Wolds, 2026 Charcoal, graphite, oxide, buon fresco 255 x 310
Please contact the gallery here to receive a catalogue for Te Ata Pō.