Paratene Matchitt’s practice encopasses sculpture, drawing and painting, and is known for combining traditional Māori and modernist art forms. His work references events from Aotearoa New Zealand history, particularly the Māori prophetic movements of the 19th century.

In 1984, Para Matchitt curated an exhibition of Māori artwork, working with Ngā Puna Waihanga, the national body of Māori Artists and Writers, Whanganui’s Sarjeant Gallery, and the Rātana Church.

The Rātana Church / Te Haahi Rātana is a pan-iwi political movement founded by Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana at the settlement of Rātana Pā near Whanganui. Initially seen as Christian revival, the movement was soon distanced from mainstream churches, becoming established as a separate church in 1925, with its constitution accepted by the Registrar-General.

Paratene Matchitt (born 1933, Tokomaru Bay, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Te Whakatōhea, Ngāti Porou) attended St Peter’s Māori Boys College before graduating as a teacher from Auckland Teachers' Training College in 1956, working as an Arts and Craft Advisor for the South Auckland Education Board, and undertaking Māori Arts and Crafts courses at Ruatoria with Pine Taiapa. Exhibiting widely since 1961, he is best-known for his large-scale public sculptures, Wellington’s City to Sea Bridge, 1993 and Auckland’s Aotea Centre, 1989. Matchitt lives and works in Napier.