Inside Ngā Taonga Tūturu

This talk will explore the diverse approaches to portraiture currently on show in two exhibitions: Ngā Taonga Tūturu: Treasured Māori Portraits at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and Prompts at Artspace Aotearoa.

Nathan Pōhio and Ruth Buchanan will discuss how portraiture continues to evolve as a complex expression of subjecthood in te ao Māori (the Māori world) and in contemporary art. The conversation will explore the different forms of representation in the two exhibitions, including taonga whakairo (carvings), sculptures by Aotearoa artist Michael Parekōwhai, paintings by UK-based artist Lubaina Himid, and 19th-century portraits of tūpuna (ancestors) by Gottried Lindauer.

Bio

Ruth Buchanan is an artist of Taranaki and currently Kaitohu Director at Artspace Aotearoa. She works across exhibition making, writing, design, and teaching. She has realised significant exhibitions and commissioned works with Govett Brewster Art Gallery, Ngamotu New Plymouth; Kunstmuseum Basel | Gegenwart; The New Commissioners, Mochengladback; Te Pataka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington; Badischer Kunsterverin, Karlsruhe; Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki; MASP, Sao Paolo; Gwangju Biennale (8); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; and Kunsthaus Bregenz. In 2018 she was awarded the Walters Prize by international judge Adriano Pedrosa.

Nathan Pōhio (Waitaha, Kāti Mamoe, Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu, Tau Iwi) is Kaitiaki Matua, Toi Māori, Senior Curator, Māori Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

An artist as well as a curator, Nathan worked at Te Puna o Waiwhetū Christchurch Art Gallery from 2002–21 as technician, exhibition designer from 2004, and assistant curator from 2015. Between 2016 and 2021 he curated significant exhibitions including He Rau Maharataka Whenua: A Memory of Land with Ta Tipene O’Regan; Te Rua o Te Moko;  co-curated Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania;  Ralph Hotere: Ātete, to Resist; and curated Te Puna Waiora: The Distinguished Weavers of Te Kahui Whiritoi.

At the Gallery, Nathan has curated Toi Te Kupu: Whakaahuatanga a two-day hui on Māori art, 2022, and he was the coordinating curator for Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia (2022). He developed and co-curator of Ngā Taonga Tūturu: Treasured Māori Portraits.

With 2015 SCAPE Public Art Commission Raise the anchor, unfurl the sails, set course for the centre of an ever setting sun! Nathan was nominated for the Walters Prize 2016 and exhibited at Documenta14 in Greece and Germany, 2017. 

Image credits: Ngā Taonga Tūturu: Treasured Māori Portraits (Installation view), Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2024 | Michael Parekōwhai The Indefinite Article, 1990, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and Chartwell Collection, purchased with generous assistance from Jim Barr and Mary | Ruth's image by: Ben Dickens | Nathan's image by: Joanna Wright