This article examines some of the ways in which young Māori women are negotiating their lives through contemporary colonization. By sharing stories around the key concepts of race and gender, insight is given into the notions of racist exclusivity and patriarchal authority in relation to being a Māori woman. The artistic practices of the participants are revealed as being ways in which to critique these subordinating notions, and to find a sense of agency or tino rangatiratanga that is relevant to their multi-cultural, multi-perspectival realities.