Raised in Tokoroa, Keith talks about his memories of the influence the pulp & paper timber industry significantly affected the resident’s way of life. To signal this experience, he imprints abstracted shapes on his works that represent symbols such as bones and sockets. Keith reflects “the whakapapa (genealogy) of industry is in our blood. People don’t always live by their tūrangawaewae (ancestral home), because they follow work, which can lead to the deterioration of culture.” This is one example of many towns in New Zealand that were established in order to serve a major industry like paper mills, smelters and freezing works. Their largely Māori and Polynesian workforce becoming the local inhabitants who often relocated there for work which some have remained, but most have moved on to other industries. Keith’s works also appear to embody the heavy industrial foundations these towns grew from. Their crude appearance reflects the stresses and extremes that working in these factories and living in these communities brought with them. Many of his vessels show cracks and ruptures from the firing process – physically representing what Keith describes as the ‘breaks’ that many families had from their ancestral lands in order to relocate for work opportunities. 

An artist who works predominantly in raku clay, Keith stretches, pushes and molds his forms combining an organic sensibility with shapes and embellishments that at times resemble machine parts, the artist says: “The uneven surface of each piece references the weathered and layered structures of the land and industry as an intrusive entity.” The molten glazes and metallic hues give each vessel its own character and reflects the relationship between industry and whenua (earth). Similarly, the artist adapts his understanding of whakapapa to consider the history of clay, contrasting the ancient Japanese firing technique of raku where shows interest in being led by the physical qualities of clay, and how these forms can be used to represent his experiences of te ao Māori (the Māori world view) within current times.  Keith has a Master of Fine Arts from the Whitecliff College of Art and Design.