Taiawhio: Conversations with contemporary Maori artists

All artists have a complicated relationship with tradition, but that relationship is even more complex for Maori artists. This applies particularly to those who work in a non-traditional media or amalgamate customary knowledge with international styles and artistic philosophies. Taiawhio is a collection of conversation-based essays on contemporary Maori artists working in a range of media, from customary to anything but, from weaving and carving to painting and sculpture, film, video and photography.

Each chapter investigates the artistic practice and sources of inspiration of one particular artist or group, looking at the development of their work, drawing on extensive interview material. The illustrations show the artist at work in the studio, giving the reader a sense of the full range of their work and, at the same time, the environment in which that work is created. As well as established names, Taiawhio also includes the work of a number of young artists, giving an insight into the people who will create the Maori visual culture of the future.

The text is lively and has been written to be accessible to the non-specialist reader. Exhibition information for each artist is included, making Taiawhio essential reading for students of art and art history, as well as for all those with an interest in contemporary visual culture and New Zealand culture in the broadest sense.

This book has brown out of a probram of research at Te Papa that investigates the current condition of contemporary Maori visual culture. The artists included here are: Jolene Douglas, Star Gossage, Fred Graham, Lyonel Grant, the Hetet Whanau (Erenora Puketapu-Hetet, Verenora Hetet, Len Hetet and Sam Hauwaho), Dion Hitchens, Emily Karaka, Hemi Macgregor, Nathan Pohio, Moko Porductions (leonie Pihama, Sharon Hawke and Glynis Paraha), Baye Riddell, Natalie Robertson, Anaru Rondon, Tracey Tawhiao, Saffronn Te Ratana, Kura Te Waru Rewiri, and Arnold Wilson