Mawhēriki is a transliteration of Maverick — and the Maverick is not a title, it is a way of living. It is about going your own way. Finding out who you are and being true to that, no matter what.

The name draws from Cody Maverick in Surf's Up — a film that is not really about surfing. It is about a young penguin who discovers that purpose matters more than winning. That is the whole buzz of it. That existentialist thread runs through everything Mawhēriki does.

The penguin — specifically the Hoiho, the yellow-eyed penguin native to Aotearoa — represents community, resilience, loyalty, and adaptability. The power of showing up and standing together, even when the odds are against you.

The work sits at the intersection of those ideas: Māori visual language, the raw energy of Basquiat and Slawn, the graffiti tradition, and the singular honesty of painters like Robyn Kahukiwa. Each piece is a one-of-one original — made once, never repeated.