Nadia Marychurch (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Raukawa) is a contemporary artist whose practice explores whakapapa, cultural memory, and the interconnected relationship between land, identity, and time. Drawing from both Māori and Scottish heritage, her work reflects a deeply personal investigation into hybridity, ancestry, and belonging.

Marychurch studied at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design, where she graduated in 2025 with a Masters in Fine Arts with honours.  There, she developed a multidisciplinary practice grounded in material exploration, contemporary Māori perspectives, and sculptural form. Her education helped shape a process-led approach that continues to inform her engagement with weaving, assemblage, and cultural storytelling.

Working primarily with reclaimed and tactile materials, Marychurch transforms woven textiles and found objects into sculptural forms that carry layered historical and emotional significance. Her process is both physical and spiritual, guided by tikanga and informed by an intentional engagement with gathering, preparing, and reconstructing materials. Through stitching, weaving, and assemblage, she creates works that honour the coexistence of past, present, and future within Māori understandings of time.

Marychurch’s practice often references the visual language of tukutuku and other customary Māori forms, reinterpreting them through a contemporary lens. By working with materials such as woollen blankets—objects historically tied to colonial trade and exchange—she addresses themes of dispossession, resilience, reclamation, and repair.

In 2026, Marychurch presented a sold-out solo presentation at the Aotearoa Art Fair as part of the Horizons sector, curated by Becky Hemus, publisher and editor-in-chief of Current art magazine. The presentation, titled He Haerenga Whenua, featured works created from reclaimed wool blankets coated with whenua and stitched with muka into contemporary tukutuku-inspired forms, alongside driftwood and hand-formed uku gathered from Matakana Island.

Her work does not seek to resolve the tensions between cultures, histories, and identities, but instead makes visible the complex intersections between them. Through her sculptural practice, Nadia Marychurch creates spaces for reflection, connection, and dialogue around heritage, memory, and collective experience.

Nadia Marychurch will present a solo exhibition at Melanie Roger Gallery in October 2026 – her first time exhibiting with the gallery.