Moana Bennett

Kia ora, I’m Moana Bennett, a contemporary Māori mixed media artist creating textural works on paper with paint, gold ink, linen thread, and poetry.

My work is built through layered mark-making, hand-stitched wāhine images, and intentional materials that translate lived experience as a wahine into visual stories. I create from quiet presence — the belief that artwork does not need to shout to be deeply felt.

These works hold story, strength, softness, and emotional depth, inviting other wāhine and meaning-led collectors to meet the artwork through feeling, connection, and reflection. For me, quiet does not mean unseen; it means sharing slowly, truthfully, and from presence rather than pressure.

My inspiration comes from wāhine stories, lived experience, and the emotional layers we carry — especially the parts of ourselves that are difficult to speak aloud. As a Māori woman, I’m inspired by whakapapa (lineage), ancestral and present-day wāhine, personal experience, resilience, softness, strength, and the quiet power that can live beneath the surface.

My work is a way of turning those feelings and stories into something visual and tactile, using layered marks, hand stitching, gold ink, texture, and colour to create art that feels grounded, meaningful, and full of presence.