Emily Karaka

Emily (Emare) Karaka (born Auckland in 1952) is a New Zealand artist of Māori (Ngāti Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngati Hine, Ngāpuhi) descent [1][2] Her work is recognised for "its expressive intensity, her use of high key colour, and her gritty address of political issues related to Māori land rights and the Treaty of Waitangi".[3]

Emily Karaka
Born1952
Auckland
Known forPainting
StyleAbstract expressionism

Karaka grew up in Glen Innes in Auckland in a family of five siblings. Her brother Dilworth Karaka is in the band Herbs.[4][5] Karaka herself brought her family up in Glen Innes and lives there still.[6] A largely self-taught artist, Karaka credits many figures in New Zealand art as mentors, including Greer Twiss, Colin McCahon, Gretchen Albrecht, Tony Fomison, Arnold Manaaki Wilson, Philip Clairmont and Allan Maddox.[7][8] In a 2014 interview she said:

Greer Twiss was my teacher at intermediate school, and I met Colin McCahon at Greer's house when I was 12. They became my kaitiaki. They steered me away from Tamaki College because they didn't consider the arts curriculum there was sufficient, and steered me to Auckland Girls' Grammar. That was great because I had people like Liz Mountain [Elizabeth Ellis]. She'd just come out of training school so she had a lot of energy and the commitment to keep to your cultural landscape and develop it.[8]

Karaka is seen as part of the first generation of contemporary Māori artists and she is often placed alongside painters Robyn Kahukiwa and Kura Te Waru Rewiri in discussions of New Zealand art history.[9] She acknowledges Katarina Mataira, Selwyn Muru and Arnold Wilson as kaumātua (respected elders) who paved the way for the next generation of Māori artists.[6]

Recent exhibitions

Two Artists: Emily Karaka & Shona Rapira Davies, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2015. Curated by Megan Tamati-Quennell, this exhibition contrasted the work of these two senior female Māori artists and explored how their early work aligned with the 'Mana Wahine' movement; 'a movement that developed from the momentum of the feminist art and Māori protest movements of the 1970s'.[10]

Five Māori Painters, Auckland Art Gallery, 2014. Curated by Ngahiraka Mason, this exhibition brought together the work of senior artists Karaka, Robyn Kahukiwa, and Kura Te Waru Rewiri with artists from a younger generation, Saffron Te Ratana and Star Gossage.[11]

References
  1. Kirker, Anne. New Zealand Women Artists Reed Methuen, 1986
  2. Brownson, Ron. Art Toi: New Zealand Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki, 2011
  3. "Artists Shona Rapira Davies and Emily Karaka's interview for Te Papa". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  4. "In conversation with Emily Karaka – Index". Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  5. "Herbs honoured". Stuff. 25 September 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  6. Smith, Huhana (2002). Taiāwhio: conversations with contemporary Māori artists. Oriwa Solomon, Awhina Tamarapa, Megan Tamati-Quennell, John Walsh (eds.). Wellington [N.Z.]: Te Papa Press. ISBN 978-0-909010-86-7.
  7. "Emily Karaka". Ferner Galleries. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  8. Gifford, Adam (22 February 2014). "Finding touchstones". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  9. Phillips, Jock (4 November 2014). "ainting - Painting of identity". Te ara: The Online Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  10. "Two Artists: Emily Karaka & Shona Rapira Davies". Arts Nga Toi. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Archived from the original on 15 June 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  11. "Five Māori Painters". Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki. Retrieved 14 June 2015.

Further information
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