Selwyn Frederick Muru (6 September 1937 – 24 January 2024), also known as Herewini Murupaenga, was a New Zealand artist. Of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

descent (

Te Aupōuri Te Aupōuri is the second northernmost Māori iwi (tribal group), located north of Kaitaia, Northland, New Zealand, a region known as the Te Hiku o te Ika. The iwi is one of the six Muriwhenua iwi of the far north of the North Island. The ...

Ngāti Kurī Ngāti Kurī is a Māori people, Māori iwi from Northland Region, Northland, New Zealand. The iwi is one of the five Muriwhenua iwi of the far north of the North Island. Ngāti Kurī trace their whakapapa (ancestry) back to Pōhurihanga, the ca ...

), his life's work included painting, sculpture, journalism, broadcasting, directing, acting, set design, theatre, poetry, and whaikōrero. Muru was awarded the Te Tohu Aroha mō Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu , Exemplary/Supreme Award in 1990 at the

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government established in 1963. It invests in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes a ...

Te Waka Awards.

Biography

Muru was born in

Te Hāpua Te Hāpua is a community on the shores of the Parengarenga Harbour in Northland, New Zealand. The road to Te Hāpua leaves State Highway 1 at Waitiki Landing. There are no shops or motels. Te Hāpua is the most northerly settlement in New Zea ...

, Northland in 1937. He was Māori and affiliated with the

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

, Te Aupōuri and Ngāti Kurī. He was a self-taught artist, although he did receive some instruction from

Kāterina Mataira Dame Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira (13 November 1932 – 16 July 2011) was a New Zealand Māori language proponent, educator, intellectual, artist and writer. Her efforts to revive and revitalise the Māori language ( te reo Māori) led to the ...

while at Northland College. He went on attend Ardmore Teachers' College specialising in arts and crafts. He taught at Matakana District High School and Huiarau Primary in

Ruatāhuna Ruatāhuna is a small town in the remote country of Te Urewera, in the northeast of New Zealand's North Island. It is 90 kilometres directly west of Gisborne, and 18 kilometres northwest of Lake Waikaremoana. By road, it is 50 kilometres south ...

. He became a part-time art tutor at Mount Eden Prison in 1962. After a solo exhibition and a feature article in ''Te Ao Hou'', by 1964 Muru had become established as an artist. In 1964, he worked on the John O’Shea (

Pacific Films Pacific Films is a film production company in New Zealand.Not to be confused with other companies with the name, including the film company in Hawaii that produced '' Phantom Below''. History The Pacific Film Unit was established in Wellington ...

) feature film ''Runaway'', where he was building sets and also had a small acting role. He began his broadcasting career in 1966. An exhibition Muru curated in 1969, ''The Work of Maori Artists'', was the first group show of contemporary Māori art at the National Art Gallery of New Zealand (now

Te Papa 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 language, Māori for 'Waka huia, the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the Nation ...

). Muru has said: "Māori art has always been contemporary." Muru, poet

Hone Tuwhare Hone Peneamine Anatipa Te Pona Tuwhare (21 October 1922 – 16 January 2008) was a noted Māori people, Māori New Zealand poet. He is closely associated with The Catlins in the Southland region of New Zealand, where he lived for the latter ...

and artist Para Matchitt founded the Māori Writers and Artists’ Association (Nga Puna Waihanga) in 1973. Muru died in the

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 ...

suburb of

Point Chevalier Point Chevalier (; commonly known as Point Chev and originally named Point Bunbury after Thomas Bunbury) is a residential suburb and peninsula in the city of Auckland in the north of New Zealand. It is located five kilometres to the west of t ...

on 24 January 2024, at the age of 86.

Broadcasting

In 1967, Muru was appointed assistant to the Head of Programmes,

New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) was a publicly owned company of the New Zealand Government founded in 1962. The Broadcasting Act 1976 then reformed NZBC as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ). The corporation was ...

. In this role, he created ''Te Puna Wai Kōrero'', 'a weekly current affairs programme in English on northern Māori issues'. He began presenting in the early 1970s on ''Te Reo o Te Pipiwharauroa,'' weekly current affairs in the

Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...

(replacing Ted Nia). The first Māori programme to air on prime-time television was ''Below Koha'' in 1982''.'' Muru along with Aroaro Hond, Robert Puwhare, Mona Papali'l and Ernie Leonard were involved.

Artwork

A significant public sculpture by Muru is ''

Waharoa A waharoa is an entrance gateway to a marae complex in New Zealand. Waharoa may refer to: * ''Waharoa'' (Aotea Square sculpture) (1990), a sculpture by Selwyn Muru in Aotea Square, Auckland * ''Waharoa'' (1990), a sculptural entranceway to the Auc ...

'' (1990), an entrance gate to

Aotea Square Aotea Square () is a large paved public area in the CBD of Auckland, New Zealand. Officially opened in 1979 by Sir Dove-Myer Robinson next to Queen Street, it is used for open-air concerts and gatherings, markets, and political rallies. In No ...

in Auckland. Represented are carvings of Tama nui te Ra (God of the Sun), Tangaroa (God of the Sea), Tane Mahuta (God of the Forest), Tawhiri Matea (God of the Elements) and Whetu me te Marama (the crescent moon and stars). In the 1980s Muru's work with recycled timber has been described as a 'leitmotif' or recurrent theme amongst several Māori artists including

Ralph Hotere Hone Papita Raukura "Ralph" Hotere (11 August 1931 – 24 February 2013) was a New Zealand artist. He was born in Mitimiti, Northland Region, Northland and is widely regarded as one of New Zealand's most important artists. In 1994 he was award ...

, Para Matchitt and Bruce Stewart by art critic Rangihiroa Panaho. Panaho calls this a re-appropriation. Curator Nigel Borell displayed two of Muru's artworks in the 2022 survey of contemporary Māori art '' Toi Tū Toi Ora'' at

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 ...

– ''Resurrections of Te Whiti over Taranaki'' (1975–77) and ''Te Whiti and Tohu over Taranaki'' (1975–77), paintings that feature the mountain Taranaki and the Māori leaders

Te Whiti o Rongomai Te Whiti o Rongomai III ( – 18 November 1907) was a Māori people, Māori spiritual leader and founder of the village of Parihaka, in New Zealand's Taranaki Region, Taranaki region. A proponent of nonviolence, Te Whiti established Parihaka ...

and

Tohu Kākahi Tohu Kākahi ( 1828 – 4 February 1907) was a Māori people, Māori leader, a warrior leader in the anti government Hau Hau Movement 1864-66 and later a prophet at Parihaka, who along with Te Whiti o Rongomai organised passive resistance against ...

. The

New Zealand Portrait Gallery The New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata is an art gallery in the Waterfront Shed 11 building in Wellington, New Zealand. History The gallery was registered as a charitable trust in 1990. In 2005 the board hired its first paid dir ...

held a retrospective exhibition entitled ''Selwyn Muru: A Life's Work'' for three months starting in November 2022. Collections that hold his work include Te Papa and Auckland Art Gallery.

Exhibitions

Selected exhibitions * Ikon Gallery, Auckland (1963) * ''Contemporary New Zealand Art,'' Japan and South East Asia (1963) * ''New Zealand Māori Council exhibition'', National Art Gallery, Wellington (1969) * ''Contemporary Maori Art,''

Waikato Museum of Art and History Waikato Museum () is a regional museum located in Hamilton, New Zealand. The museum manages ArtsPost, a shop and gallery space for New Zealand art and design. Both are managed by the Hamilton City Council. Outside the museum is ''The Tongue of ...

, Hamilton (1976) * ''Kohia ko Taikaka Anake'', National Art Gallery, Wellington (1990) * '' Te Waka Toi: Contemporary Maori Art'', (tour to the United States) (1992) * '' Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art,'' Auckland Art Gallery (Sat 5 December 2020 – Sun 9 May 2021)

References

External links

Records held at the National Library of New Zealand

Artworks at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Muru, Selwyn 1937 births 2024 deaths 21st-century New Zealand artists 21st-century New Zealand male artists New Zealand Māori artists Ngāti Kurī people Te Aupōuri people People from the Northland Region