LISA REIHANA

AUCKLAND ART GALLERY

5 DECEMBER 2020 - 9 MAY 2021

 

Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art will be the largest exhibition in the 132-year history of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

 

A major survey of contemporary Māori art from the 1950s to the present day is being developed by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki to open this summer.

 

Featuring over 300 artworks by 110 Māori artists, Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art opens at Auckland Art Gallery on Saturday 5 December 2020 and will be free to the public.

 

Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art considers new ways of approaching and engaging with Māori art of the last 70 years. The Māori creation narrative provides the exhibition’s framework, highlighting its enduring resonance and the multiplicity of interpretation that artists have bought to bear on the narrative in making their art.

 

This landmark exhibition celebrates a vast range of contemporary Māori art, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, clay-making, jewellery and body adornment, photography, digital media, film and installation art. It will also present a number of new site-specific commissions by: Mata Aho Collective collaborating with Maureen Lander; Shane Cotton; Emily Karaka; Reuben Paterson; Matekino Lawless and Christina Wirihana; Lisa Reihana; Reweti Arapere; Ngatai Taepa; Sandy Adsett; Areta Wilkinson; and more to be announced. This will be accompanied by a Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art satellite site at the Britomart precinct, developed in partnership with the Britomart Group.

 

The exhibition’s development has been supported by Haerewa, the Māori Art Advisory rōpu to the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Chair of Haerewa, Elizabeth Ellis, says: ‘An exhibition survey of this scale has been a long time coming in Aotearoa New Zealand and it fulfils our aspirations for the Gallery. Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art brings visibility to contemporary Māori art for Māori communities and all to celebrate and embrace.’

December 5, 2020