Maia's practice explores the human condition and our entangled relationship with the environment. She is particularly interested in how systems of value are constructed culturally, materially, and spiritually, and how these intersect with whakapapa (genealogy), whenua (land), and histories of resistance.
Primarily with uku (clay), Maia moves fluidly across disciplines including drawing, writing, and installation. Clay remains central to her practice, a material that carries both ancestral knowledge and political weight. It serves as a vessel for exploring Indigenous methodologies, embodied narratives, and the tensions between permanence and fragility.
Maia holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from Massey University, Wellington, and a Diploma in Māori Art and Design, completed under the mentorship of Māori master uku artist Wi Taepa. While studying in Porirua, she founded and led the Wellington Clay Collective, a community-driven initiative fostering collaboration and learning within the ceramics field.
Over the past fifteen years, Maia has exhibited extensively across Aotearoa and internationally. Her work is held in public and private collections including The Arts House Trust, The Dowse Art Museum, Wellington Museum, Puke Ariki Museum, the Wellington City Art Collection and others.
Alongside her art practice, she has worked within government and local council roles, representing her hapū and iwi. Career highlights include contributing to the repatriation of the Motunui Epa panels, now permanently housed at Puke Ariki in Taranaki, and collaborating with the Rt Hon Helen Clark to advance advocacy for the creative sector, including support for outsider artists and incarcerated artists.
Maia's current practice continues to navigate the spaces between contemporary art and Indigenous knowledge systems. It is grounded in whakapapa and whenua, while interrogating the frameworks through which value, authorship, and belonging are defined.