Nekehanga moves between two connected sites, Daldy Street Community Gardens and Silo 6, in an area known as Waiatarau on the Tāmaki Makaurau waterfront.

Waiatarau takes its name from the bay that once existed here, before the whenua was shifted into the moana this coastline was a place known for its reflective waters and abundant kai gathering.

Taiao practitioner Charmaine Bailie (Te Uri o Hau – Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara) and artist Holli McEntegart (Pākehā - Irish Gaelic, Ulster Scots, English) will be growing dye plants in the community gardens on Daldy Street and offering a series of monthly workshops exploring te taiao and natural dyeing practices. This will be accompanied by an immersive exhibition at Silo 6 in September bringing together our collaborators in sound, Tāmaki oro Rau, a Tāmaki Makaurau based taonga puoro collective, and the mighty plants and flowers of Ngakinga.

This iteration of Inhabit follows Iteration 4; Ngakinga, a year-long participatory social sculpture activated at Papa ki Awataha in Northcote (March 2025 to March 2026). Conceived as a living laboratory for taiao, creativity, and natural dyeing practices, Ngakinga, was a collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples and native and non-native plants to co-create public art, ritual and other care practices that weave together our diverse ancestral threads while respecting Māori sovereignty, in honor ultimately of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It explored interconnectedness, community collaboration, and ecosystems of care, while ultimately surrendering to the labour of grief, loss and the realities of care-work. Nekehanga relocates this project to a site where mana whenua have long committed to the work of caring for and healing the whenua that was shifted here.

This project is supported by Auckland Council.Project website www.inhabitproject.com