March 20, 2018
Maori artists to fore in Te Papa revamp
Te Papa has chosen to use the opening of its new Toi Art gallery to highlight its collections of Maori and Pacific artworks.
The $8 million gallery, which gives the national museum 35 percent more space to show paintings, sculptures, and contemporary art, opened last Friday.
Communications manager Kate Camp says to enter the two-level space people must go through the Michael Parekowhai exhibition Detour, featuring a six metre acrylic elephant.
"It’s a combination of things he has made himself, sculptural pieces, and then works he has taken from the national collection, so Colin McCahon's Northland Panels are part of the work Parekowhai has created in that space so it's really unusual, it's not like anythng you've seen before, and I think people are going to spend a long time in there puzzling over it and looking through all the details," she says.
Other opening shows include Pacific Sisters: Fashion Activists, a survey of the work being done in the 1990s by a collective of Auckland Maori and Pacific artists including Lisa Reihana and Roasanna Raymond, and Turangawaewae: Art and New Zealand which includes portraits including works by Goldie and Lindauer.
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