Difference Celebrated

1st November - 20 November 2005
Warwick Henderson Gallery

An exhibition, which deals with two themes. The first is a series of four works that are my response to comments such as “I don’t see colour when I look at a person: everyone is equal”. These works highlight that the difference of race and colour should be celebrated not ignored.

The second is a series of three works in response to the sudden death of my husband, Dooley Kahukiwa. These paintings express the stages of grieving from initial shock, to the reconnection with family, friends and place that is at the heart of tangi to the comfort gained in acknowledging our place within unbroken whakapapa lines that continually link the living with those that have gone before us.

New Zealand Natives Exhibtion

16th November 2004
Montserrat Gallery, New York

The Art of Robyn Kahukiwa
Robyn Kahukiwa

‘No contemporary Maori artist’s imagery is more publicly accessible or immediately familiar to New Zealanders than that of Robyn Kahukiwa’ – Jonathan Mane-Wheoki

Since the early 1970s Robyn Kahukiwa has been painting and exhibiting art that celebrates socio-cultural issues – some which are controversial – that are central to the Maori experience in Aotearoa New Zealand today but equally relevant to all indigenous peoples of the world; ranging over issues such as colonialism and the dispossession of indigenous people, motherhood and bloodties, social custom, mythology and political activism.

A uniquely Polynesian treatment and bright, vivid palettes have made Robyn’s art instantly recognisable and respected by some of the worlds leading art historians such as Edward Lucie-Smith. In Robyn’s own words her works reflect the mana or prestige of her people; strength, energy, dynamism and continuance.

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