Waiho i te toipoto (keep close together)
Renee Cosgrave & Maia Kreisler

As an exhibition title, Waiho i te Toipoto evokes whānau and kinship, whakapapa and ancestral connection, community and collective care, belonging and the bonds that endure across distance and time. For these bodies of work, both concerned with whakapapa, memory, and relationships, they carry both a personal and collective meaning without being overly descriptive. Whakapapa is often translated as genealogy or family lineage. In simple terms, whakapapa is the story of where you come from and how you are connected. This collaborative exhibition brings into dialogue a wall painting by Gertrude Studio Artist Renee Cosgrave (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) and a series of recent works by Maia Kreisler (Ngāti Mutunga & Te Āti Awa), contextualised and expanded through an exhibition text by Emma Hislop (Kāi Tahu).

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Renee Cosgrave is a visual artist, arts worker, and mother based in Naarm Melbourne, from Aotearoa New Zealand. She is of Irish, Māori (Ngāti Tūwharetoa), and Scottish descent. Her practice explores painting, drawing, raranga (Māori weaving), public art and modes of collaboration. Cosgrave’s works reflect on her tūrangawaewae (homebase) and culture through colour, repetition, gesture and language. Recent exhibitions include Gertrude Studios 2025: Various Small Fires (with members of Te Reo Maioha), Gertrude Contemporary, 2026; Much like cooking a meal (with Merryn Lloyd), La Trobe Art Institute, Bendigo, 2025; Pink Heat, Hayden’s Gallery, Naarm Melbourne, 2023; Whanaunga (with Aunty Dorothy Nilson), Blak Dot Gallery, Naarm Melbourne, 2022; and Ahi Mahana (with Kori Miles), Sutton Projects, Naarm Melbourne, 2019. 

Renee Cosgrave is represented by Hayden’s Gallery, Naarm Melbourne.

Maia Kreisler is a Māori ceramic artist of Ngāti Mutunga and Te Āti Awa descent based in Naarm Melbourne. Her practice explores whakapapa, identity, cultural memory, and the relationships between people, place, and ancestral knowledge through hand-built ceramic vessels and sculptural forms. Informed by Māori cosmologies, histories of passive resistance, and the transmission of knowledge through whānau, her work considers how identity is shaped through connections to ancestors, community, and Country. Kreisler holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from Massey University, Wellington, and a Diploma in Māori Art and Design from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Wellington, studying uku under renowned Māori artist Wi Taepa. Her work is held in collections including The Dowse Art Museum, Puke Ariki, Wellington Museum, The Arts House Trust and Craft Victoria.