Maureen Lander Archive

Senior contemporary artist Maureen Lander (born 1942, Te Hikutu, Te Roroa, Ngāpuhi) is an installation artist whose practice employs both traditional and experimental weaving materials and techniques.

Lander gained a doctorate in fine arts in 2002 and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Auckland in 2022, where she had been a senior lecturer in Māori Studies for many years, teaching Māori material culture. In 2019, Lander received a Ngā Tohu ā Tā Kingi Ihaka award from Te Waka Toi. The following year Lander was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori art. In 2021, Lander was awarded the Walters Prize, with the Mata Aho collective, for 'Atapō' and was made an Arts Foundation Laureate in 2022.

Her archive covers her four-decade art career. From the 1980s are weaving samples and correspondence between her and respected weaver and artist, Diggeress Te Kanawa. Other highlights of the archive are illustrated research folders on flax, feathers, cloaks and weaving, and material relating to her artworks such as artist statements, installation proposals, working drawings, and exhibition ephemera.

Image: Unknown photographer, [Maureen Lander with her work 'Moetangi. A lullaby + a lament', 2009 when installed as part of the exhibition 'Hotere Country' at Village Arts, Kohukohu, Hokianga, 2009].