Matariki Williams

Matariki Williams (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Hauiti, Taranaki, Ngāti Whakaue, Te Atihaunui-a-Pāpārangi) is a curator, writer and editor. Previous roles include as the Visual Arts Director for Kia Mau Festival, Senior Historian, Mātauranga Māori at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, and Curator Mātauranga Māori at Te Papa Tongarewa. She co-authored Protest Tautohetohe: Objects of Resistance, Persistence and Defiance with Stephanie Gibson and Puawai Cairns which won the Illustrated Non-Fiction category at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards in 2020. In 2018, she co-founded ATE Journal of Māori Art, a peer-reviewed publication with Bridget Reweti.

Matariki is a committee member for Te Hā o Ngā Pou Kaituhi Māori, the national Māori contemporary writers network, and serves on the editorial board of the Turnbull Library Record. She is a former board member of Museums Aotearoa, Contemporary HUM, and former Trustee on the Judith Binney Trust. Over summer 2024–2025, Matariki held the Oroya Day Fellowship in New Zealand Art History in the Art History programme at Victoria University.

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