- Name
- James Ormsby
- Iwi/Ethnicity
- Ngāti Maniapoto/Māori
Tainui/Waikato/Māori
Te Arawa/Māori
Scotland - Date of birth
- 1957
- Place of birth
- Hamilton/Waikato (region)/New Zealand
- Gender
- Male
- Biography
- Employing a distinctive vocabulary of personal symbols, motifs and materials, James Ormsby’s large-scale, finely detailed drawings map unique indigenous cartographies that express his whakapapa.
It is Ormsby’s distinctive graphite drawings for which he is perhaps best known. Inspired by ancestral Māori and Scottish mark-making and symbols, they explore the significance of symbols in communicating and connecting histories and genealogies.
Ormsby has been a finalist in the National Contemporary Art Awards, the Wallace Art Awards and the New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Awards.
Be in the know
Sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date