Several free exhibitions, displaying the artworks made entirely by women, are currently happening at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata in Wellington.
The exhibition Ira Wahine: Portraits by Hariata Ropata-Tangahoe features monumental works by Kāpiti based artist Hariata Ropata-Tangahoe from 16 March until 11 June. It traces her matriarchal whakapapa (genealogy) in honour of her female tūpuna (ancestors).
Through her artistic practice, which spans painting and sculpture, she explores her sense of place and identity, drawing on her whakapapa to imagine a post-colonial future that foregrounds wahine (women).
Her life-size paintings rendered in her unique style are full of rich symbolism and a number are presented in frames hand-carved by her and her husband, Leonard Taylor.
Another exhibition, In the Round: Portraits by Women Sculptors, aims to create a lineage of sculptors, spanning the past century, and to celebrate the work of women sculptors in Aotearoa New Zealand.
“Despite the rich history of sculpture in this country, there have been noticeably fewer women who have pursued careers in the field, this is especially true for Māori women, who are under represented in both collections, exhibitions and public sculpture,” said curator Milly Mitchell-Anyon.
According to Milly, the exhibition is a story about pushing materials into new and exciting directions or carving out opportunities where they had previously been non-existent.
“Sculpture in the round refers to three-dimensional freestanding work that can be viewed from all sides, and this is one of the aims of this exhibition – to see figurative sculpture by a number of artists, who each tell a different story about sculpture in Aotearoa.
In the Round: Portraits by Women Sculptors will run until 14 May.