Tawhai Rickard is a contemporary New Zealand Maori artist born in Gisborne, Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, of Ngati Porou decent.

He is influenced by the epic history of his country Aotearoa, New Zealand and its historical interrelationship between Māori and Pakeha to the present day.  His work reflects the social, historical and cultural landscapes of Aotearoa - Korerō, commentary, history and stories about our journey as New Zealand. 

In this episode Tawhai talks about his journey from growing up in Tairāwhiti, Gisborne, rarely seeing artwork representing his Maori culture, to becoming an artist himself. He reflects back on his first experiences drawing and how some of those ideas have been carried through to his art practice today and how he creates work to honour his Maori culture, to lift it up and to make as much noise visually as he can. Encouraging people to stop and take notice. 

We discuss his interest in pop art, music, TV and movies, British and NZ pop culture, figurative paintings from his ancestorial wharenui or house and our bicultural foundations and how these things create fuel for his art practice.

Text Mandy - leave your name and email so I can get back to you!

Support the Show.

Ngā mihi, thanks for listening!

If you'd like to support the show with a $3, $5, $8 or $10 monthly donation to help with production costs, please follow this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1713946/supporters/new

Follow us on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/creativematterspodcast/

Learn more about the podcast
https://www.creativematters.co.nz/podcast

Please rate and review our show to help others find us https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/creative-matters/id1561034043