Waitaki District Council arts, culture and libraries manager Chloe Searle said Forrester Gallery & Mahika Kai Mahika Toi, and Friends of the Forrester Gallery, were "proud" to announce the artists as Dr Areta Wilkinson and Mark Adams.
"Areta (Kāi Tahu) is a jeweller and sculptor, and Mark (Pākehā) a photographer and they have collaborated for over a decade, working with taoka in anthropological and natural history collections with Te Wai Pounamu origins.
"They have deep dived into institutional collections on our shores and overseas, and explored ana whakairo sites across Aotearoa," she said.
Ms Searle said the "artists’ collaborative work is achieved conceptually by producing imagery that speaks to both of their whakapapa, combining Mātauraka Māori and museological methodologies".
The pair had a long-term residency at Cambridge University in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology between 2009 and 2017, where they first began to experiment with the shadows produced by photograms.
Their shared imagery has featured taoka, including tiki, moa and other extinct bird bones, fossils, and stone tools.
"Their interest continues with recent explorations of Waitaki Museum & Archive Te Whare Taoka and Vanished World Centre," Ms Searle said.
Adams is well known for his cross-cultural photographic studies in New Zealand and overseas, with his work on Samoan tatau (tattooing) and whakairo Māori (carving).
Dr Wilkinson’s practice explores whakapaipai, concepts of personal adornment and embellishment.
She is also a founding member of the Paemanu: Ngāi Tahu Visual Arts rōpū.
The Kakanui (also known as Kākaunui) residency was "generously supported" by Friends of the Forrester Gallery and Chris Barnes.
The two artists’ will split their residency period in two; the first part has recently finished, with the remainder to commence later in the year.
The artists’ residency will result in an exhibition scheduled for May 2027 at Forrester Gallery & Mahika Kai Mahika Toi.
