Ethan Sheaf is a designer, visual researcher, and storyteller based in Aotearoa New Zealand. His practice navigates the spaces between communication design, indigenous knowledge systems, data visualisation, and community mapping.
With a background in media and communication design, his work often takes the form of systems-driven visuals — maps, networks, interfaces, publications — grounded in kaupapa Māori values and critical design methods. Ethan’s projects question how we represent data, land, and people — and who those representations serve.
He holds a Master of Design Innovation from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, where his thesis explored truthful methods of mapping social, environmental, and economic systems through indigenous and critical GIS approaches. In addition to academic research, he has worked as a tutor, research assistant, and collaborator on projects spanning environmental justice, data sovereignty, and visual storytelling.
Ethan’s work exists between digital and tactile media — from screen-based dashboards to photographic journeys and large-scale installations. Each project is shaped by a clear intent: to make invisible systems visible, to reconnect stories to place, and to challenge extractive narratives.