6 Dec 2020

Major exhibition of contemporary Maori art

From Standing Room Only, 1:31 pm on 6 December 2020

It's almost 20 years since the last significant survey show of contemporary Māori art.  But Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki has taken up the challenge to represent 70 years of work from the 1950s till now.

Most of the gallery has been handed over to the curator of Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, Nigel Borrell and he's gone for it!

More than 100 artists are represented, with some of them taking on their most ambitious work yet as commissions for the show. 

The work is woven around the Māori Creation story - in artforms that range from body adornment, clay making and painting, to digital media and multi-story-high art installations.

Lynn Freeman asks Nigel Borell how much has changed in the contemporary Maori art scene since that last survey show two decades ago.