Taarati Taiaroa is an artist based in Auckland and a director of New Zealand's longest-running artist-run space. She was a Taieri College pupil when she received a Class Act award in 2004.
Six beehives in the centre of Auckland city form the basis of Taarati Taiaroa's latest ''sculpture''.
The Park is a collaboration with friend Sarah Smuts-Kennedy and, like much of Taiaroa's artwork, involves public participation.
Since the hives were introduced to Victoria Park last autumn, people have been encouraged to find existing food sources for the bees or plant new ones to support them, she says.
These ''pollen hotels'' are plotted online, the map depicting the emergence of Auckland as a ''pollen park'' and the conversion of individual actions into collective outcomes.
In some of her other work, Taiaroa delves into archives to investigate and expose small narratives.
Her current interests range from an outdoor hippie festival in the 1960s to a 1980s board game called Poleconomy.
She also recently submitted a master's thesis on museums and cultural heritage, after surveying Maori art exhibitions for a new history of indigenous art being written by Dr Deidre Brown and others from the University of Auckland.
''You don't get taught much of New Zealand's art history at art school,'' says the 27-year-old, who is of Ngati Tuwharetoa and Ngati Apa descent.
''So it was a really good contextual exercise for me.''
When she is not working on her own art, Taiaroa teaches at Elam - the school where she earned her bachelor and master's of fine arts degrees - and helps manage RM, an artist-run space in Karangahape Rd that was established in 1997.
This month she has been in Glasgow where RM and other artist-led organisations across the six Commonwealth territories were invited to curate exhibitions held during the Commonwealth Games.
The co-director's job is unpaid but she believes in supporting other artists: ''If you want to be successful in the art world, it's very much about relationships, being part of the community and being generous.
''Not just being 'up yourself','' she adds, laughing.
For artists, being successful also means not giving up ''and having faith that this thing you do - that doesn't make much money and is quite time-consuming - is actually worth it in the end.''
''It's a lifelong journey that you have to keep on going at and practise. You have to be in it for the long game.''
