Melanie Tangaere Baldwin (Ngāti Porou) is a māmā of two, a multi-disciplinary artist, curator, and arts educator. She is a founder and current director of HOEA! Gallery in Tūranga Nui a Kiwa, Gisborne. Her work is research-based and largely focused on Te Ao Māori, Mana Wahine, stereotyping of indigenous peoples and the effects of settler colonialism on notions of power, beauty and worth.
Melanie is the recipient of the 2024 YSP and Te Tuhi New Zealand-UK Residency Award. Baldwin is the third recipient of this award, the first being Mount Maunganui-based artist Darcell Apelu in 2019. The second was Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland artist Deborah Rundle in 2020.
I'm really humbled to have been given the privilege of this residency. I'm really excited to be able to have time, space and resource to begin researching and creating a new body of work in this unexpected and undoubtedly inspiring environment.
- Melanie Tangaere Baldwin (Ngāti Porou)
