︎ Photo by Lynne Vermeulen
Kaiya Waerea (Ngāti Kahungunu) is an artist, writer, and publisher from Aotearoa, who has lived in London for 11 years. His research is interested in the diasporic qualities of print, and how the distributive flow and material persistence of print outputs enable intimacy and insurgency through time and across borders.
Most recently, this has resulted in the first iteration of Rūma Panui Totoro ꩜ A Reaching Reading Room at Outhouse Gallery (London). Rūma panui totoro is a reading room of Māori feminist and takatāpui publishing which takes the form of a koro: the bud of a fern unravelling. This first edition unfurled around archival periodicals on loan from the Feminist Library (London), building outward contextually, thematically and graphically to uncover roaming readings of Māori feminist lesbian organising as it vibrates across time and space. This builds on previous work for Errant Journal (Netherlands), Bikini Books (Portugal), and Montez Press (UK) recovering lineages of Māori radical publishing, and exploring what it means to do so from here, in the colonial centre.
Alongside Sophie Paul, Kaiya is a founder of Sticky Fingers Publishing, an intradependant feminist press based in South East London (est. 2019). Together, they commission experimental non-fiction exploring queer subjectivity, the erotics of knowledge production, and the materiality of language, uncovering publishing as a site for experimenting with collectivity itself; of gathering through time, on the page.
Kaiya has taught collaborative and experimental publishing across academic and community contexts, delivering lectures and workshops at universities including Central Saint Martins and London College of Communication, and collectively-run spaces including House of Annetta and Mayday Rooms. He also teaches Graphic Design Technical Studies on BA Graphic Design at Goldsmiths University.
︎︎︎Sign up to my email list
︎ kaiyawaerea0@gmail.com
︎@kaiyawaerea
Most recently, this has resulted in the first iteration of Rūma Panui Totoro ꩜ A Reaching Reading Room at Outhouse Gallery (London). Rūma panui totoro is a reading room of Māori feminist and takatāpui publishing which takes the form of a koro: the bud of a fern unravelling. This first edition unfurled around archival periodicals on loan from the Feminist Library (London), building outward contextually, thematically and graphically to uncover roaming readings of Māori feminist lesbian organising as it vibrates across time and space. This builds on previous work for Errant Journal (Netherlands), Bikini Books (Portugal), and Montez Press (UK) recovering lineages of Māori radical publishing, and exploring what it means to do so from here, in the colonial centre.
Alongside Sophie Paul, Kaiya is a founder of Sticky Fingers Publishing, an intradependant feminist press based in South East London (est. 2019). Together, they commission experimental non-fiction exploring queer subjectivity, the erotics of knowledge production, and the materiality of language, uncovering publishing as a site for experimenting with collectivity itself; of gathering through time, on the page.
Kaiya has taught collaborative and experimental publishing across academic and community contexts, delivering lectures and workshops at universities including Central Saint Martins and London College of Communication, and collectively-run spaces including House of Annetta and Mayday Rooms. He also teaches Graphic Design Technical Studies on BA Graphic Design at Goldsmiths University.
︎︎︎Sign up to my email list
︎ kaiyawaerea0@gmail.com
︎@kaiyawaerea
Selected Writing
︎︎︎Alphabettes Soup: Feminist Approaches to Type, ‘Rematerialisng Gender: The Typographic Performance of Radical Deviance’ with Evelyn Wh-ell (Porto, Portugal: Bikini Books, 2026)
︎︎︎ Montez Press Writers Residency, ‘Unfurling Whakapapa Takatāpui’, (London, UK: Montez Press, 2024)
︎︎︎How To Sleep Faster #15: PRIVATE, ‘Permanently Differed: A Bibliographic Opera’ with Sophie Paul (London, UK: Arcadia Missa Publishing, 2024)
︎︎︎Access Questions for Self Publishing
(London, UK: PageMasters, 2024)
︎︎︎Counter Signals 5: Systems and their Discontents, ‘No Future for Bad Crips’,
(Chicago, USA & Berlin, Germany: Other Forms, 2024)
︎︎︎Errant Journal No. 5: Learning from Ancestors ‘Bitches, witches & dykes: The Teachings of Black Feminist Publishing in Aotearoa’
(Amsterdam, Netherlands: Errant Journal, 2023)
Selected Residencies & Alternative Education
︎︎︎Wysing Arts Centre, SYLLABUS VIII Independant Study Programme (Various cities, UK & Northern Ireland) 2025-26
︎︎︎Fluent, PRAXIS Independant Study Programme, (Santander, Spain), 2024
︎︎︎Butch Lineages Core Programme (London, UK) 2024
︎︎︎Montez Press Writers Residency (London, UK) 2024
︎︎︎Writing Survival writing course led by Catriona Morton (Online) 2022
︎︎︎Arvon, ESSAY week-long course led by Olivia Sudjic and Sam Fisher (Devon, UK) 2022
︎︎︎The Politics of Intimacy Residency led by Raju Rage (Online) 2020-21
Selected Design Clients
︎︎︎Aislinn Evans
︎︎︎Amanda Wilkinson Gallery
︎︎︎Coventry University
︎︎︎Europa Europa (accessibility consultancy)
︎︎︎Figs in Wigs
︎︎︎Gillie Klieman
︎︎︎Goldsmiths Press
︎︎︎Goldsmiths Students’ Union
︎︎︎Goldsmiths University College Union
︎︎︎Healing Justice London
︎︎︎Holly Revell
︎︎︎The Women’s Library (London School of Economics)
︎︎︎The Women’s Art Collection (Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University)
︎︎︎University of Illinois
︎︎︎Maximillan Williams Gallery
︎︎︎Pernilla Manjula Philip
︎︎︎Sainsbury’s Gallery
︎︎︎SICK Magazine
︎︎︎Alphabettes Soup: Feminist Approaches to Type, ‘Rematerialisng Gender: The Typographic Performance of Radical Deviance’ with Evelyn Wh-ell (Porto, Portugal: Bikini Books, 2026)
︎︎︎ Montez Press Writers Residency, ‘Unfurling Whakapapa Takatāpui’, (London, UK: Montez Press, 2024)
︎︎︎How To Sleep Faster #15: PRIVATE, ‘Permanently Differed: A Bibliographic Opera’ with Sophie Paul (London, UK: Arcadia Missa Publishing, 2024)
︎︎︎Access Questions for Self Publishing
(London, UK: PageMasters, 2024)
︎︎︎Counter Signals 5: Systems and their Discontents, ‘No Future for Bad Crips’,
(Chicago, USA & Berlin, Germany: Other Forms, 2024)
︎︎︎Errant Journal No. 5: Learning from Ancestors ‘Bitches, witches & dykes: The Teachings of Black Feminist Publishing in Aotearoa’
(Amsterdam, Netherlands: Errant Journal, 2023)
Selected Residencies & Alternative Education
︎︎︎Wysing Arts Centre, SYLLABUS VIII Independant Study Programme (Various cities, UK & Northern Ireland) 2025-26
︎︎︎Fluent, PRAXIS Independant Study Programme, (Santander, Spain), 2024
︎︎︎Butch Lineages Core Programme (London, UK) 2024
︎︎︎Montez Press Writers Residency (London, UK) 2024
︎︎︎Writing Survival writing course led by Catriona Morton (Online) 2022
︎︎︎Arvon, ESSAY week-long course led by Olivia Sudjic and Sam Fisher (Devon, UK) 2022
︎︎︎The Politics of Intimacy Residency led by Raju Rage (Online) 2020-21
Selected Design Clients
︎︎︎Aislinn Evans
︎︎︎Amanda Wilkinson Gallery
︎︎︎Coventry University
︎︎︎Europa Europa (accessibility consultancy)
︎︎︎Figs in Wigs
︎︎︎Gillie Klieman
︎︎︎Goldsmiths Press
︎︎︎Goldsmiths Students’ Union
︎︎︎Goldsmiths University College Union
︎︎︎Healing Justice London
︎︎︎Holly Revell
︎︎︎The Women’s Library (London School of Economics)
︎︎︎The Women’s Art Collection (Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University)
︎︎︎University of Illinois
︎︎︎Maximillan Williams Gallery
︎︎︎Pernilla Manjula Philip
︎︎︎Sainsbury’s Gallery
︎︎︎SICK Magazine
Selected Talks, Workshops & Exhibitions
︎︎︎The Coast is Queer, ‘Queer Publishing Day: Radical Queer (re)Publishing’ (panel) 2026
︎︎︎Rūma Panui Totoro ꩜ A Reaching Reading Room, Outhouse Gallery (solo exhibition) 2026
︎︎︎Unfurling Māori & Pasifika Print Publishing (group study session), The Feminist Library (2026)
︎︎︎Access Questions, Intra-dependence, and Indigenous Feminist Print Publishing, Pressing Issues Lecture Series, Futuress (lecture) 2025
︎︎︎Design & Disability, Great Exhibition Road Festival with Access Power Visibility (panel) 2025
︎︎︎Trans Print in Britain: Archive Study Session with Evelyn Wh-ell, National Library of Scotland (workshop) 2025
︎︎︎READ ALL ABOUT IT: Feminist & Queer Newsletters at the Feminist Library with Sticky Fingers Publishing (workshop) 2025
︎︎︎Design & Disability, Victoria and Albert Museum (group exhibition) 2025
︎︎︎Maximilian William Gallery, ‘Five Years of Sticky Fingers Publishing,’ Sticky Fingers Publishing (solo exhibition) 2024
︎︎︎Healing Justice London, ‘Rehearsing Accessible Futures’ hosted by Studio Hyte (panel) 2023
︎︎︎Somerset House Studios, Grounding Practices, ’Making (and Holding) a Crip Planetarium’ (workshop) 2023
︎︎︎AGIA Design Conference ‘Design is Eugenics is Design: Introducing Crip Theory to Design Studies’ (lecture) 2023
︎︎︎Migrants in Culture, ‘Disability & Access for Visual Organising’ (lecture) 2023
︎︎︎Woke Designers Reading Club Season 4: Designing on Crip Time (8 week workshop) 2022
︎︎︎Lunchtime Gallery, I’M BORED OF READING I WANT REVENGE, Sticky Fingers Publishing (solo exhibition) 2022
︎︎︎South Kiosk Gallery, Perspectives on Visibility (solo exhibition) 2021
︎︎︎Dash Arts, World Within Worlds ‘Science Fiction, Disabled Futures’ zine making workshops 2021
︎︎︎Knowle West Media Centre, Come Together ‘Proxy Politics: Making and Unmaking Perspectives on Access’ with APV (workshop) 2021
︎︎︎Transmediale, Almanac of Refusal, Perspectives on Visibility (online exhibition) 2021
︎︎︎Control Shift Network, Perspectives on Visibility (commission & online exhibition) 2020-21
︎︎︎The Coast is Queer, ‘Queer Publishing Day: Radical Queer (re)Publishing’ (panel) 2026
︎︎︎Rūma Panui Totoro ꩜ A Reaching Reading Room, Outhouse Gallery (solo exhibition) 2026
︎︎︎Unfurling Māori & Pasifika Print Publishing (group study session), The Feminist Library (2026)
︎︎︎Access Questions, Intra-dependence, and Indigenous Feminist Print Publishing, Pressing Issues Lecture Series, Futuress (lecture) 2025
︎︎︎Design & Disability, Great Exhibition Road Festival with Access Power Visibility (panel) 2025
︎︎︎Trans Print in Britain: Archive Study Session with Evelyn Wh-ell, National Library of Scotland (workshop) 2025
︎︎︎READ ALL ABOUT IT: Feminist & Queer Newsletters at the Feminist Library with Sticky Fingers Publishing (workshop) 2025
︎︎︎Design & Disability, Victoria and Albert Museum (group exhibition) 2025
︎︎︎Maximilian William Gallery, ‘Five Years of Sticky Fingers Publishing,’ Sticky Fingers Publishing (solo exhibition) 2024
︎︎︎Healing Justice London, ‘Rehearsing Accessible Futures’ hosted by Studio Hyte (panel) 2023
︎︎︎Somerset House Studios, Grounding Practices, ’Making (and Holding) a Crip Planetarium’ (workshop) 2023
︎︎︎AGIA Design Conference ‘Design is Eugenics is Design: Introducing Crip Theory to Design Studies’ (lecture) 2023
︎︎︎Migrants in Culture, ‘Disability & Access for Visual Organising’ (lecture) 2023
︎︎︎Woke Designers Reading Club Season 4: Designing on Crip Time (8 week workshop) 2022
︎︎︎Lunchtime Gallery, I’M BORED OF READING I WANT REVENGE, Sticky Fingers Publishing (solo exhibition) 2022
︎︎︎South Kiosk Gallery, Perspectives on Visibility (solo exhibition) 2021
︎︎︎Dash Arts, World Within Worlds ‘Science Fiction, Disabled Futures’ zine making workshops 2021
︎︎︎Knowle West Media Centre, Come Together ‘Proxy Politics: Making and Unmaking Perspectives on Access’ with APV (workshop) 2021
︎︎︎Transmediale, Almanac of Refusal, Perspectives on Visibility (online exhibition) 2021
︎︎︎Control Shift Network, Perspectives on Visibility (commission & online exhibition) 2020-21