Carmel Aroha Salmanzadeh

Carmel Aroha Salmanzadeh b. Tāmaki Makaurau, 2002. Carmel has ties to Ngaati Hauaa, Ngaati Korokii Kahukura, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, Ngāti Ira, Ngāti Porou, Lefaga, Safotu, Enping, Ardestan. Carmel uses moving images, painting, and sculpture to create scenes in which her ancestors and descendants live in prosperity and joy. Her work is concerned with indigenous futurity and diasporic dissonance, using family stories to shrink gaps of disconnection and to contextualise a sense of belonging. In this case, absence and decontextualisation are the lens through which this work was constructed.