04 Jun 2025
Hearing the karanga and the takutaku floating through the air as the throng of people squeeze into the New Zealand Portrait Gallery, you see the pieces on the wall and the diversity in how the young artists have interpreted the word portrait, and you immediately feel that this is something special.
Oil paintings, carvings, a tekoteko in the medium of a woollen rug, a kaumātua rendered out of diamantes, every piece representing the artists’ interpretation of people who are or will become ancestors.
The dictionary definition of a portrait is “a painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person, especially one depicting only the face or head and shoulders.” However, walking into the Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture 2025 exhibition, this definition is turned on its head, putting whakapapa first.
“We’re responding to the Goldies and the Lindauers, the portraits of our tūpuna. It was very much driven by the King’s thinking. For the King, it was all about whakapapa – he could see a picture of Potatau and trace it to himself, one living person to another, and the Queen can do that too. And that’s what these young artists are encouraged to do here in any way that works best for them,” says Gary Nicholas, trustee of Te Komiti Kaitiaki Kaupapa Māori at The New Zealand Portrait Gallery | Te Pūkenga Whakaata.
Spokesman for Te Kiingitanga, Rahui Papa says it was a deliberate decision by the late Kīngi Tuheitia Potatau Te Wherowhero VII to allow the young artists to follow their hearts and their own artistic expression to guide their interpretation of what an tūpuna portrait could be.
“Kei te iho o te ngākau o ō rātou uri. Koinei te mea whakahirahira rawa atu, e kitea mai ai tō rātou tirohanga ki tō rātou tupuna, ā-whakairo nei, ā-peita nei, ā-whakaahua nei, ā-raranga nei, ā-aha nei, ā-aha nei,” Rahui Papa says.
It’s the third iteration of the Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Awards, a biennial event established in 2020 by Kīngi Tuheitia and the New Zealand Portrait Gallery to encourage emerging Māori artists to create portraits of their tūpuna.
This unique interpretation of what a portrait can be presented some issues in terms of creating a competition and how to judge it, but Gary Nicholas says that had to take a backseat to allow the artists their own creative interpretation.
“We knew such a range of work would be difficult to judge - who’s confident to judge a kākahu against a whakairo? Who’s going to judge a painting against a video? A taiaha against a photo? But we decided the judges will just have to deal with it, and we’re glad we did because what we’re left with is something special,” says Gary.
While the event was a celebration of creativity and something of a debut for the artists involved, there was also a sombreness in the air as Te Arikinui Nga wai hono i te po presided over the event established by her father, Kiingi Tuheitia, for the first time since his death in August 2024. Rahui Papa says that it’s only right, as the kaupapa is all about legacy and keeping those who have passed on alive through artistic expression.
“I tera wāhanga, ko tō tātou Kiingi i whakakanohi mai, a ka mutu, ko ia (Te Arikinui Nga wai hono i te po) i tēnei rā. Me te mea nei, ko tāna he whakapūmau i te kaupapa, kia kitea ngā tūpuna mai i te au o te kanohi o a rātou mokopuna, ana, koira e hirahira ai – kua whakaora mai ano. He nui rātou kua mate, ka mutu, kua hahua mai mā te mahi toi nei, kua ora mai anō,” Rahui Papa says.
During the opening of the event, Gary Nicholas said the awards allowed ringatoi to capture toi Māori as a snapshot in time to honour their ancestors, something that cultures all over the world have been doing in their own way since time immemorial.
“Every culture has their own way of depicting and commemorating an ancestor. The Romans had their busts and relief sculptures and clay paintings, the Egyptians had their pyramids, some Pacific nations even kept the heads of ancestors and communed with them when needed, and even kaumātua speaking in a whare will feel for the whakairo on the walls behind them, and in all these ways we bring our ancestors back to life. With art they come back and are standing right beside us,” Gary says.
Works by 41 rangatahi were chosen as finalists and featured in the 2025 exhibition. The judges selected five ringatoi as worthy of honourable mention, Shannon Te Rangihaeata Clamp, Divine Herekiuha, Jessica Hulme, Caitlin Jolley and Zoe Marler. Maata-Maria Cartisciano was named as runner up.
The top prize went to Jazmin Tainui Mihi Paget-Knebel (Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Whakatōhea, Ngāpuhi, and Ngāti Hine), who received the $20,000 cash prize for her photo entry titled Taniwha Chasers. Her piece was a black and white photograph of a young boy looking triumphant on horseback, Tino Rangatiratanga flag flying in the wind. While it was challenging to see a young boy as a tūpuna in the context of the competition, it inspired hope for the Aotearoa this future tūpuna may part of one day.
Kereama Te Ua, Lead Practice Adviser – Ngā toi Māori at Creative New Zealand attended the opening and the awards, and says it’s exciting to see what the entrants brought to the kaupapa.
“Tēnei te tira hou te haramai nei! I was pleased to see the high calibre of work and broad spectrum of expressions presented by the finalists for the awards this year. The depth of mātauranga Māori or tirohanga Māori when approaching this traditionally western artform will challenge your own perspective of what a portrait can be. The works were breathtaking; some took me straight back to the whare of my own koroua where I could almost smell the rēwana bread permeating through the artworks. They gave me a strong feeling of pride and contentment knowing that this next generation are not only a reflection of their tipuna but also stand in their own mana motuhake. Toitū te tira hou,” Kereama says.
The exhibition is open to the public at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata at Shed 11 on Wellington’s waterfront until 17 August 2025. The public can also vote for their choice to win the Forsyth Barr People’s Choice Award which carries a cash prize of $2,500 that will be announced at the close of the exhibition. The exhibition artworks will then tour the country over the next two years.
“What the King asked for was a platform for the young people to show their creativity, and this is what it blossomed into. It spans three calendar years, so for any young artist, it’s an incredible way to show their work. It lets them explore how art can depict how they see themselves, their tūpuna, the past, the present, and future. All the artworks are incredibly layered, as all toi Māori is incredibly layered, and it’s exciting to encourage them as they’re starting out,” says Gary.
An old saying was quoted at the opening of the event about how a person experiences two deaths – the first time when their body passes, and the second time when all memory of them fades and their name is spoken for the last time, and it’s beautiful and poignant to think of these portraits as a way to ensure that second life lasts and lasts, ake, ake, ake.
Share this
