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| Michael Parekowhai | |
|---|---|
| Name | Michael Parekowhai |
| Birth date | 1968 |
| Birth place | Porirua |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Known for | Sculpture, installation, furniture, photography |
| Training | Ilam School of Fine Arts, Victoria University of Wellington |
| Notable works | Flight of Fantasy, The Lighthouse, Ara, On First Looking into Chapman's Homer |
Michael Parekowhai is a New Zealand sculptor and multimedia artist known for ambitious installations, crafted furniture, and photographic work that interweave colonial history, popular culture, and Māori whakapapa. He has exhibited across Oceania, Europe, and North America and represented New Zealand at major international events, engaging with institutions, collectors, and public commissions. Parekowhai's practice frequently references literature, film, music, and national iconography while collaborating with makers and artisans.
Born in Porirua in 1968 to a family of Ngāti Toa Rangatira and Ngāti Raukawa descent, Parekowhai grew up in a region shaped by the cultural networks of Wellington and the nearby coastal communities. He attended local secondary schools before enrolling at the Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury, where he studied alongside contemporaries from the South Island art scene. Parekowhai later completed postgraduate studies at Victoria University of Wellington, linking him to the networks of practitioners and curators associated with institutions such as the Adam Art Gallery and the Royal Society Te Apārangi cultural sphere. Early influences included contact with practitioners from Artspace (Auckland), mentors connected to the City Gallery Wellington, and visiting international artists from the Venice Biennale circuit.
Parekowhai emerged in the 1990s within a cohort of New Zealand artists whose work engaged postcolonial discourse and institutional critique alongside craft traditions. He gained attention through exhibitions at galleries such as ARTZONE, Te Tuhi, and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery before moving into larger survey shows and international biennials. His career includes participation in exhibitions and fairs alongside artists linked to Tate Modern, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Stedelijk Museum, and working relationships with curators from the National Gallery of Victoria, Te Papa Tongarewa, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Parekowhai's studio practice has expanded to include collaborations with metalworkers, carpenters, and foundry teams drawn from networks associated with the Wellington School of Design and the artisan workshops of Auckland and Christchurch.
Major works include sculptural installations and ensemble pieces such as Flight of Fantasy, The Lighthouse, Ara, and On First Looking into Chapman's Homer, shown in institutional contexts like the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Te Papa Tongarewa, and international venues. Parekowhai represented New Zealand at the Venice Biennale in 2015 with a project presented in the Giardini and adjoining palazzo spaces, receiving coverage alongside national pavilions from Australia, Canada, and Japan. Retrospectives and survey exhibitions have been mounted at museums including the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, and he has participated in group shows at the Whitney Museum, Centre Pompidou, and Kunsthalle Wien. Biennials and triennials featuring his work include the Aichi Triennale, the Sydney Biennale, and the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art.
Parekowhai's aesthetic weaves polished craftsmanship and baroque display with wry theatricality, juxtaposing hand-crafted furniture, taxidermy, bronze casting, and photographic panels. He frequently references literature such as the sonnets and epics read in Homer translations, cinematic auteurs like Alfred Hitchcock and Federico Fellini, and musical forms tied to performers such as Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. Thematic concerns include treaty histories connected to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the layered meanings of colonial monuments like those erected after the New Zealand Wars, and dialogues with Māori protocols as practised by iwi such as Ngāti Toa Rangatira and Ngāti Raukawa. Parekowhai often stages encounters between national iconography—referencing entities such as the New Zealand Automobile Association or landmarks like Mount Taranaki—and global cultural signifiers from Hollywood and European salon culture.
Parekowhai has received numerous honors and awards across New Zealand and internationally, including support from funding bodies such as Creative New Zealand and fellowships administered by The Arts Foundation of New Zealand. He has been shortlisted for and won prizes that align him with other laureates from institutions like the Turner Prize-associated networks and recipients of awards administered by the Asia New Zealand Foundation. His Venice presentation and subsequent major commissions have led to coverage and accolades in publications associated with the British Council, the Australian Council for the Arts, and cultural institutions across Europe and North America.
Works by Parekowhai are held in major public and private collections including Te Papa Tongarewa, the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa collection, and regional museums such as the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and the Canterbury Museum. International acquisitions include holdings at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, and university collections in the United States and United Kingdom. Commissions have been produced for civic contexts in Wellington, architectural collaborations with firms active in Auckland and Christchurch, and site-specific projects for institutions such as the Auckland War Memorial Museum and public spaces adjacent to the Victoria University of Wellington precinct.
Parekowhai has undertaken artist residencies and teaching engagements with institutions including the Toi Toi Residency, Artist-in-Residence at the University of Auckland, and international residencies linked to the DAAD programme and Australian artist residencies coordinated through the Australia Council for the Arts. He has served on advisory panels and juries for funding bodies and galleries such as Creative New Zealand, the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki selection committees, and curatorial forums connected to biennials like the Venice Biennale and the Sydney Biennale. His public roles have extended to lectures and guest critiques at the Elam School of Fine Arts, Ilam School of Fine Arts, and cultural forums hosted by organizations including the Royal Society Te Apārangi and arts festivals like the New Zealand Festival.
Category:New Zealand sculptors Category:1968 births Category:Living people