Kauae Raro Research Collective

lives Yállabirrang Naarm, (Melbourne) is an artist of mixed Koorie and European descent.

His recent paintings bring together minimal serial abstraction with familial narrative and institutional critique especially as are conveyed by materials and material histories.

We loved the use of ochre in these pieces, the colours (lilac earth?!) and textures on unconventional materials they lay upon. These works are currently being exhibited at as a part of ‘Essential Oils’ with Tyrone Te Waa.

Only You 2025
ochre and acrylic binder on removalist felt
610 x 820mm

Kissy 2025
ochre and acrylic binder on Brucks Wangaratta jellybean camouflage
1020 x 1980mm

Untitled 2025
ochre and acrylic binder on riot shield
660mm diameter

Girls be like “I needed this” and it’s literally just embodying their ancestors 💅🏽

Pukepoto (vivianite) is an iron phosphate mineral. A blue earth found in estuaries, repo, decaying logs and sometimes on kōiwi, both human and animal. Our tīpuna used pukepoto as a body adornment in life and in death, as a paint, and within ceremony.

There is something different about working with this pigment? Maybe it is pukepoto’s close association with death that is present both in its creation and in its use.

In The Book of Earth, describes its transformation from a co**se like colour into a deep, vibrant blue. In the right conditions, this shift can occur in minutes?!!

This could be why pukepoto carries such presence. It is a colour born of death.