Media Release | Wednesday 25 June 2020
Game-changing exhibition of contemporary Māori art set to open
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 120 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.
Auckland Art Gallery Director Kirsten Paisley says, ‘This ambitious intergenerational exhibition will be a spectacular celebration of the dynamic and changing expression of contemporary Māori art. Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art is monumental in its storytelling and its scale and speaks to the very core of the Gallery’s purpose as a bicultural place for the championing of New Zealand art.’
Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art considers new ways of approaching and engaging with the 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.
Auckland Art Gallery Curator, Māori Art, Nigel Borell says, ‘It is nearly 20 years since a New Zealand art institution has revisited the story of contemporary Māori art in a large survey exhibition. This moment feels timely and essential. It will stimulate critical discussion about the place of contemporary Māori art while also presenting an occasion to celebrate its vitality and uniqueness. A project of this scale and importance is a major undertaking, but it is an exhibition that I’ve been thinking about for some years and am extremely excited to now be realising.’
Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art will celebrate 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.’
He whakaaturanga rongomaiwhiti o ngā toi Māori moroki e haere ake nei.
Ko Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, te whakaaturanga nui rawa i roto i ngā hītōria 132 tau o Toi o Tāmaki.
E whanaketia ana tētahi tirohanga whānui o ngā toi moroki Māori mai i ngā tau o te 1950 ki nāianei, e Toi o Tāmaki, hei whakataki i te raumati e haere ake nei.
Neke atu i te 300 ngā toi a ngā kaitoi Māori 120 ka whakaaturia, ā, ka whakapuarengia a Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art ki Toi o Tāmaki a te Rāhoroi 5 o Hakihea 2020, ā, he kore atu mā te marea.
E ai ki a Kirsten Paisley te kaiwhakahaere o Toi o Tāmaki, ‘He whakaaturanga awhero nui, reanga maha hoki tēnei e whakaatu ana i te mīharotanga, ā, he whakanuitanga o te hikareia o te whakapuakitanga i te toi Māori moroki. Inā te tiketike o ngā kōrero tuku iho kei ngā toi o Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, ā, ko te pūtake tonu tērā o ngā whāinga a te whare toi nei, hei wāhi kākanorua hei hiki i ngā toi o Aotearoa.’
E kimihia ana e Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art he huarahi hou o te whakataki me te whai wāhi o ngā toi Māori o ngā tau 70 kua pahure. Ko te orokohanga o te ao te pou tarāwaho o te whakaaturanga nei, e miramira ana i te rongo matatū, me te taurea o te whakaaro e mau ana i roto i ngā toi.
Hei tā Nigel Borell te ringaraupī Māori ki Toi o Tāmaki, ‘Kua tata ki te 20 tau mai i te wā i mātorohia ngā kōrero o te toi Māori moroki e tētahi whare toi o Aotearoa mā roto i tētahi tirohanga whānui. Kua tae te wā, ā, e matea ana hoki. Ka pupū ake ngā kōrero arotake i te wāhi ki te toi Māori moroki, ā, me te whakawātea i tētahi takunetanga hei whakanui i tōna toi hiringa. He whakaaturanga hiranga nui te kaupapa tiketike nei, engari he whakaaturanga kua roa e whakaarotia ana e au i roto i ngā tau, nō reira e hīkaka ana te ngākau e whakatinanatia ana inaianei.’
Ka whakanuitia e Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art ngā tūmomo toi Māori moroki maha, pēnei i te waituhi, tāraitanga, tāruatanga, toi uku, tāonga pīwari, taonga whakarākei, whakaahua, toi matihiko, kiriata, me te toi puni. Ka whakaatutia hoki ētahi toi i kōmihanahia mō tētahi wāhi-tautuhi, pēnei i ngā toi a : Mata Aho Collective e mahi tahi ana ki a Maureen Lander; Shane Cotton; Sandy Adsett; Emily Karaka; Reuben Paterson; Matekino Lawless rāua ko Christina Wirihana; Lisa Reihana; Reweti Arapere; Ngatai Taepa; Areta Wilkinson; me ētahi atu kaitoi ka whakapuakina i muri nei. Tāpiri ki tēnei, ka whakatūria e Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art tētahi whare taupua ki te pokapū o Britomart, he mea whakatū i te taha o Britomart Group.
He mea tautoko te whanaketanga o tēnei whakaaturanga e Haerewa, te rōpū Tohutohu Toi Māori o Toi o Tāmaki. Hei tā Elizabeth Ellis te tumu o Haerewa, ‘Kua roa e tāria ana tētahi whakaaturanga tirohanga whānui pēnei te tiketike i Aotearoa, ā, e whakatinana ana i ngā wawata mō te whare toi. Mā Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art e maea ai ngā toi moroki Māori ki ngā hāpori Māori me te marea hoki, hei whakanuitanga, hei whakahiapotanga.’
Exhibition details:
Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art
When: Saturday 5 December 2020 to May 2021
10am – 5pm daily except Christmas Day
Where: Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Corner Kitchener and Wellesley Streets
Auckland, New Zealand
Admission: FREE for New Zealand residents and Gallery Members
