We are decolonising practitioners with Indigenous and settler ancestry, respectively. From and living in Tairāwhiti, Teah is a māmā, artist, facilitator and researcher with Te Roopu Whāriki (see www.loveisyou.org). From and living in Tāmaki Mākaurau, Rachel is a mama, artist, facilitator and researcher with the University of East London (see www.racheljaneliebert.com).

Inspired by the mahi of Behind the Wire Rangatahi ki Rangatira, we will collectively work towards creating portraits of ourselves as our tīpuna. After whakawhānaungatanga, we will separate into different spaces to do a series of embodied activities about, with and as our Indigenous/enslaved/colonised or settler/coloniser ancestors, leading up to our photo sesh, before all coming back together to debrief. All welcome!

About us;

I (Teah) often think about our accountability to Papatūānuku in everything I do. Every research approach, strategy, leadership practice and action must take into account its impact on Te Tai Ao and providing and promoting regenerative practices and processes "ka ora te Whenua, ka ora te tangata". He uri mokopuna tēnei no Te Whānau-A-Apanui, Ngāti Porou me Waikato- Tainui. Whare tangata, artist, story catcher and teller. I draw on these identities to express, connect and articulate Indigenous spirit, aroha and wisdom. Community psychology trained and practicing as a kaupapa Māori researcher and evaluator. My work highlights the importance of the Indigenous voice and control with respect to the design and delivery of health services, workforce development, governance, qualitative methods, strategy and evaluation.

In my life and mahi, I (Rachel, she/they) seek to breach the genocidal legacies of my settler and intellectual ancestry. Trained in NYC then working in East London as a Critical Community Psychologist, I have tried to trace the role of Psychology within colonialism and experiment with creative, participatory and more-than-human efforts toward decolonisation. Past projects have collab-ed with activists and art(ists) to confront police brutality, educational injustice, the privatisation of sex, the securitisation of madness and the paranoia of White supremacy. Guided by the aching bones of my Irish missionary ancestors, I’m now turning toward praxes for engaging settler ancestors and doing whiteness differently. I’ve just arrived home to Tāmaki after being away for 16 years - introducing my partner, Tehseen, and our two sweet babes to Rangitoto and the Hauraki waters that helped my own mama to raise my three brothers and I.