Tia Huia Ranginui is an artist from

Whanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whanganui is ...

, New Zealand Aotearoa and her main artform is photography. Her work is held in public collections including at the Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua,

History

Ranginui grew up along the

Whanganui river The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natur ...

at Koriniti. Ranginui is

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 ...

affiliated to the hapū Ngāti Hine Oneone, of Whanganui iwi. Ranginui is a self-trained artist and in addition to her art practice works as a gallery assistant in Whanganui. Themes in her work include Māori representation in art and stories from her local region of Whanganui. Her works are described by art critic Robert Leonard as ranging 'from the polemical and political to the enigmatic and poetic' and have also been described as magic realism. In a review of her work in the journal Art New Zealand, Milly Mitchell-Anyon says: "Her photographs are steeped in history whilst simultaneously balancing contemporary concerns." In 2021 Ranginui collaborated with writer Arihia Latham. Latham wrote a poetic essay in response to Ranginui's work for Photo Forum Online. Arihia Latham ( Kai Tahu) is writer and also Māori health practitioner of

rongoā (or rongoā Māori) refers to the traditional medicinal practices developed among the Māori in New Zealand. Rongoā was one of the Māori cultural practices targeted by the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907, until lifted by the Maori Welfare Ac ...

. Public collections which include work of Ranginui include Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, The Dowse Art Museum, City Gallery, Wellington and the Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua, St Peter’s School Cambridge, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and the Arts House Trust.

Selected exhibitions

Ranginui's first solo exhibition was in 2015. The exhibition ''Tāwauwau'' ''(Away)'' includes a sequence of ''

patupaiarehe Patupaiarehe are supernatural beings () in Māori mythology that are described as pale to fair skinned with blonde hair or red hair, usually having the same stature as ordinary people, and never tattooed. They can draw mist to themselves, but t ...

' photographs. These are creatures of Māori folklore with 'red hair and fair complexions' and Ranginui has them placed in contemporary suburbs of Whanganui.

Solo

* ''entitled film stills,'' Space Studio & Gallery, Whanganui (16 February - 01 March 2019) * ''Tua o Tāwauwau,'' Contemporary Art Space,

New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Pl ...

(31 October - 5 December 2020) * ''Gonville Gothic,'' City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, (14 August - 31 October 2021) * ''Tia Ranginui,'' Laree Payne Gallery, Hamilton (2021) * ''Tua o Tāwauwau,'' The Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui (28 May – 21 August, 2022) * ''Gonville Gothic,'' Te Uru, Auckland, (10 September - 26 February 2023)

Group

* ''Te Hau Whakatonu: A Series of Never-Ending Beginnings'',

Govett-Brewster Art Gallery The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is a contemporary art museum at New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in ...

, New Plymouth (2024)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranginui, Tia New Zealand Māori women People from Whanganui New Zealand Māori artists New Zealand photographers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people