Nova Paul

Nova Paul (Te Uriroroi, Te Parawhau, Ngāpuhi) is an artist filmmaker living in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Using early cinematic film processes, experimental film practices, and weaving traditional stories and mātauranga Māori, Nova considers the poetics and politics of everyday self-determination and place to create an image of tino rangatiratanga – Māori sovereignty. Her technicolour films in three-colour separation explored ways in which film could unravel time, picture wairua and layers of whakapapa to imagine decolonial thought. Her recent B&W 16mm films are hand-processed by plant-based developers, using the leaves of the trees filmed to create a film developer. The film outcomes are not so much about trees but by trees, exploring ways photosynthesis, filmmaking, and spirit are intertwined and where the mauri is revealed. COUSIN will be supporting her creative practice.

Hawaiki (2022) premiered at Sundance Film Festival, US, 2023. Ngā Pūrākau Nō Ngā Rākau – Stories from Trees (2023) was presented simultaneously at Whangārei Art Museum and City Gallery Wellington. Rākau (2022) Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. This is not Dying (2010) has been exhibited extensively, including at the New Zealand and Rotterdam Film Festivals, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, and George Pompidou Centre. Her films Ko ahau te wai ko te wai ko ahau and Te Ripo (2018) Winnipeg Art Gallery's first Indigenous Triennial, Naadohbii: To Draw Water,  have toured internationally. Nova was a senior lecturer and arts educator in Visual Arts at AUT for over two decades and is a member of Haerewa, a group of pre-eminent Māori artists, academics and cultural figures who provide cultural advice to the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Her films are in the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington and Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū collections.