Ngataiharuru Taepa (Te Atiawa and Te Arawa)
Kaihautu Toi Māori – Director of Māori Arts and Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor (Māori); Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts
- +64 (0)4 801 5799 ext 84361
- N.Taepa@massey.ac.nz
Professor Ngatai Taepa is one of New Zealand’s most significant and innovative contemporary Māori artists. Taepa has produced an impressive body of work that combines indigenous concepts with contemporary expression. He has fashioned a unique identity for himself in his exploration of the relevance of kōwhaiwhai painting today.
Taepa completed his Bachelor of Maori Visual Arts and his Masters in Maori Visual Arts at Massey, and lectured in the Bachelor of Maori Visual Arts programme until undertaking the role of Kaihautu Toi Maori - Director of Maori Arts.
The present chair of Te Atinga, Contemporary Visual Arts Committee of Toi Māori Aotearoa, Taepa is driving this influential committee into exciting indigenous international connections for the next generation of Māori Artists. In 2014 he was selected to travel to Monte Cassino in Italy as part of the 70th anniversary of the famous WWII battle there and in 2015 he was commissioned to create artwork for the WW1 Remembered: A Light and Sound Show for the opening of Pukeahu War Memorial Park, Wellington. Recently he has been commissioned by New Zealand Post to create a logo and a kōwhaiwhai designed stamp.
Taepa has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally. His work is held in prestigious collections including Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and Auckland War Memorial Museum.
