Dr Aroha Yates-Smith

Yates-Smith became Dean at the University of Waikato’s School of Māori and Pacific Development (Te Pua Wānanga ki te Ao). Her research interests have included Māori spirituality, traditional Māori medicine.[3] She is also interested in Māori women’s arts and crafts, and the tradition of karetao (Māori puppetry), which she hopes to revive.[2] 

Yates-Smith curated an exhibition, including her own work, at the Rotorua Museum in 2000. The exhibition, Hine! E Hine!, was funded by the Arts Council Te Waka Toi (now Creative New Zealand), and explored the legacy of Māori women.[2] She has featured on a number of recordings, including collaborating with Hirini Melbourne and Richard Nunns on the DVD Te Hekenga-ā-Rangi in 2003.[2] The soundtrack was later released as a CD titled Karanga Te Po – Karanga Te Ao, and featured traditional Māori musical instruments taonga puoro.[5] She has composed work and done vocal work including the DVD Tau te Mauri Breath of Peace, which won the Sonja Davies Peace Award in 2005, and the 2007 film He Oranga He Oranga Healing Journeys, which received a Commended World Peace Film Award at the World Peace Film and Music Festival in Lucknow, India.[2]’

Yates-Smith’s work was the inspiration for the video game MāoriGrl by her daughter Kahurangiariki Smith, and the digital exhibition of the same name held in the Depot Artspace in Devonport in 2018.[6] The exhibition reinterpreted the story of Hine-tītama /Hine-nui-te-pō, the woman who became the goddess of death in Māori mythology.[1]