Emily Karaka (born

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

in 1952), also known as Emare Karaka is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

artist of Māori ( Ngāti Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngati Hine,

Ngāpuhi Ngāpuhi (also known as Ngāpuhi-Nui-Tonu or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland regions of New Zealand centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei. According to the 2023 New Zealand census, the estimate ...

) descent Kirker, Anne. ''New Zealand Women Artists'' Reed Methuen, 1986 Her work is recognised for "its expressive intensity, her use of high key colour, and her gritty address of political issues related to Māori land rights and the Treaty of Waitangi".

Early and personal life

Karaka grew up in Glen Innes in Auckland in a family of five siblings. Her brother Dilworth Karaka is in the New Zealand band

Herbs Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnish (food), garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typi ...

. Karaka herself brought her family up in Glen Innes and lives there still.

Career

A largely self-taught artist, Karaka credits many figures in New Zealand art as mentors, including

Greer Twiss Greer Lascelles Twiss (born 23 June 1937) is a New Zealand sculptor, and in 2011 was the recipient of an Icon Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, limited to 20 living art-makers. Career Twiss was born in Auckland on 23 June 1937, ...

Colin McCahon Colin John McCahon (; 1August 191927May 1987) was a New Zealand artist whose work over 45 years consisted of various styles, including landscape, figuration, abstraction, and the overlay of painted text. Along with Toss Woollaston and Rita Angus ...

, Gretchen Albrecht,

Tony Fomison Anthony Leslie (Tony) Fomison (12 July 1939 – 7 February 1990) was a notable artist in New Zealand. He was an important post-war visual artist in the country and influenced New Zealand art by incorporating elements of narrative and myth in ...

, Arnold Manaaki Wilson,

Philip Clairmont Philip Anthony Clairmont (1949–1984) was a New Zealand painter. Biography Clairmont was born to Thelma and Rex Haines on 15 September 1949 in Nelson and named Philip Rex Haines. After his parents separated, his mother changed the family name i ...

and Allan Maddox. In a 2014 interview she said:

Greer Twiss was my teacher at intermediate school, and I met Colin McCahon at Greer's house when I was 12. They became my kaitiaki. They steered me away from Tamaki College because they didn't consider the arts curriculum there was sufficient, and steered me to Auckland Girls' Grammar. That was great because I had people like Liz Mountain lizabeth Ellis She'd just come out of training school so she had a lot of energy and the commitment to keep to your cultural landscape and develop it.

Karaka is seen as part of the first generation of contemporary Māori artists and she is often placed alongside painters Robyn Kahukiwa and

Kura Te Waru Rewiri Kura Te Waru Rewiri (born 1958) is a New Zealand artist, academic and educator. Art historian Deidre Brown described her as "one of Aotearoa, New Zealand's most celebrated Māori women artists." Early life and education Te Waru Rewiri is the ...

in discussions of New Zealand art history. She acknowledges Katarina Mataira, Selwyn Muru and

Arnold Wilson Sir Arnold Talbot Wilson (18 July 1884 – 31 May 1940) was a British soldier, colonial administrator, Conservative politician, writer and editor. Wilson served under Percy Cox, the colonial administrator of Mesopotamia ( Mandatory Iraq) dur ...

kaumātua A kaumātua is a respected tribal elder in a Māori community who has been involved with their whānau for a number of years. They are appointed by their people who believe the chosen elders have the capacity to teach and guide both current a ...

(respected elders) who paved the way for the next generation of Māori artists.

Recent exhibitions

''Rāhui'', 29 April - 4 June 2021. Visions Gallery, Auckland. ''Two Artists: Emily Karaka &

Shona Rapira Davies Shona Rapira Davies (born 1951) is a New Zealand sculptor and painter of Ngātiwai, Ngātiwai ki Aotea tribal descent currently residing in Wellington, New Zealand. Education Rapira Davies first studied at the Auckland College of Education, m ...

'',

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand ...

, 2015. Curated by Megan Tamati-Quennell, this exhibition contrasted the work of these two senior female Māori artists and explored how their early work aligned with the 'Mana Wahine' movement; 'a movement that developed from the momentum of the feminist art and Māori protest movements of the 1970s'. ''Five Māori Painters'',

Auckland Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

, 2014. Curated by Ngahiraka Mason, this exhibition brought together the work of senior artists Karaka, Robyn Kahukiwa, and Kura Te Waru Rewiri with artists from a younger generation, Saffron Te Ratana and Star Gossage. Karaka had a work presented, ''Kingitanga ki Te Ao (They Will Throw Stones)'', (2020) at the 22nd Sydney Biennale.

References

Further information

The Big Art Trip Series 1 Episode 2
features Emily Karaka
Five Māori Painters: Emily Karaka
interview recorded by

2014
Emily Karaka talks about her 1984 work ''The Treaties''
audio-recording from the

Interview with Ngahiraka Mason, curator of ''Five Māori Painters''
Standing Room Only,

Radio New Zealand National RNZ National (), formerly Radio New Zealand National, and known until 2007 as the National Programme or National Radio, is a publicly funded non-commercial New Zealand English-language radio network operated by Radio New Zealand. It specialises ...

, 2014
Personal and political
Shona Rapira Davies and Emily Karaka interviewed by curator Megan Tamati-Quennell
Emily Karaka
in the collection of the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karaka, Emily 1952 births Living people Artists from Auckland Ngāpuhi people Ngāti Hine people Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki people 20th-century New Zealand women artists 21st-century New Zealand women artists