Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award exhibition in May 2023. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Organisers hope the Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award exhibition can expand the boundaries of Māori portraiture and build on the relationship between the Kiingitanga and Waitangi.
Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi will host the exhibition of the 43 finalists of the 2023 Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award, a biennial national competition where emerging Māori artists create portraits of their tūpuna, or ancestors.
The awards and travelling exhibition showcase the talent and expertise of emerging Māori artists through works created with a variety of visual artistic mediums.
The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award was launched in August 2020 before the inaugural competition and award being presented in 2021.
Waitangi Treaty Grounds curatorial and learning head Chanel Clarke said it was a privilege to host the touring exhibition, especially on the back of the King's visit to Waitangi earlier this year.
Installation views of the Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award at The New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata in June 2023.. Photo: Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award
She said there was a range of art in the exhibition, with many artists pushing the boundaries on how to reflect their tūpuna.
"There is a number of works that have digital elements, there was a work that was AI-generated, and having those mixed in among some of our more traditional toi (arts) it just shows the really exciting avenues that are available to our ringatoi (artists) these days."
Clarke said Māori portraits could be however Māori want them to be, not limited to European ideals.
"How we choose to represent ourselves is up to us... and we don't have to focus on these traditional aspects of what we've been taught to think is traditional portraiture."
Traditional Māori art forms like uku, or clay, and whakairo, or carving, are also part of the exhibition.
"If [whakairo] isn't portraiture, I don't know what is," Clarke said.
The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award was for emerging artists, many of whom were second-time entrants, she said.
"It's a really good avenue for many of these emerging artists to make a mark, and because of the touring nature of the show to have their work exposed to galleries and to the public around the motu."
The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award exhibition will be open to the public at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds until 11 August 2024.
