Hiria Anderson (Rereahu, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Apakura) gained an MFA with First Class Honours from Whitecliffe College of Art and Design. She was raised in her grandparents’ home in the Waikato and today lives in her whānau homestead in Ōtorohanga.
After Anderson’s sold-out 2017 exhibition – 21 exquisite paintings representing contemporary Māori life on her family Marae – we are proud to present her second Auckland exhibition: Ahi Kā.
Anderson’s practice is focussed upon painting the everyday lives of the people in her community. She pays particular attention to intertribal relationships and relationships between family members, as well as to the politics and environments that show the nuances and connections between Māori culture and 21st century life.
The exhibition’s title, Ahi Kā, could be translated as the keepers of the flame. Ahi Kā are the people who keep the fires of occupation burning … the group who live on the land and the group who retain title to the land through whakapapa tracing back to ancestors who also lived there.
Anderson writes:
“I want to produce knowledge about our world at this time through my eyes. I am present in every painting. I felt, experienced and saw those things. The land was that colour. The sky was that blue. I smelt that rain. I saw the reflection of light off that concrete.
But I understand, too, that the prison, the courthouse and the church are political constructs that have disenfranchised Maori. Perhaps not everyone will read it in that way but that is the purpose of the work.”
Photography by Kallan MacLeod
HIRIA ANDERSON
Ahi Kā
August - September 2019
Installation View
HIRIA ANDERSON
Ahi Kā
August - September 2019
Installation View
HIRIA ANDERSON
Hoki mai ki te haukāinga
2019
oil on canvas
305mm H x 405mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
HIRIA ANDERSON
The view from Te Kawaumaaro
2019
oil on canvas
255mm H x 255mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
HIRIA ANDERSON
Mauri
2019
oil on canvas
305mm H x 230mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
HIRIA ANDERSON
Vintage Lace and Whariki
2016
oil on canvas
305mm H x 230mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
HIRIA ANDERSON
Ahi Kā
August - September 2019
Installation View
HIRIA ANDERSON
Ko Hiria ahau
2018
oil on canvas
405mm H x 340mm W (frame)
HIRIA ANDERSON
Ko Hiria ahau
2019
oil on cavas
305mm H x 255mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
HIRIA ANDERSON
Ahi Kā
August - September 2019
Installation View
HIRIA ANDERSON
Whakatā
2016
oil on canvas
255mm H x 200mm W
COLLECTION AUCKLAND ART GALLERY TOI O TAMAKI
HIRIA ANDERSON
Visiting Turongo
2017
oil on canvas
255mm H x 305mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
HIRIA ANDERSON
Tākaro
2019
oil on canvas
255mm H x 305mm W
COLLECTION AUCKLAND ART GALLERY TOI O TAMAKI
HIRIA ANDERSON
Mokopuna
2019
oil on canvas
255mm H x 255mm W
WALLACE ARTS TRUST COLLECTION
HIRIA ANDERSON
Ahi Kā
August - September 2019
Installation View
HIRIA ANDERSON
Pouri
2019
oil on canvas
345mm H x 390mm W (frame)
PRIVATE COLLECTION
HIRIA ANDERSON
Manaaki ki te tāngata II
2019
oil on canvas
345mm H x 390mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
HIRIA ANDERSON
Manaaki ki te tāngata II
2019
oil on canvas
345mm H x 390mm W (frame)
COLLECTION AUCKLAND ART GALLERY TOI O TAMAKI
HIRIA ANDERSON
Ahi Kā
2019
oil on canvas
355mm H x 460mm W
COLLECTION AUCKLAND ART GALLERY TOI O TAMAKI
HIRIA ANDERSON
Ahi Kā
August - September 2019
Installation View
HIRIA ANDERSON
Hāhi Mihingare
2019
oil on canvas
405mm H x 305mm W
PRUVATE COLLECTION
HIRIA ANDERSON
Prison, police station, church and the space in between
2019
oil on canvas
405mm H x 305mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
HIRIA ANDERSON
Amo
2019
oil on canvas
405mm H x 305mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
HIRIA ANDERSON
Ruapehu
2018
oil on canvas
200mm H x 255mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
HIRIA ANDERSON
He waiata tangi
2019
oil on canvas
255mm H x 200mm W
COLLECTION AUCKLAND ART GALLERY TOI O TAMAKI
HIRIA ANDERSON
Kihikihi Fishshop
2018
oil on canvas
255mm H x 305mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION