‘Emily Karaka: Ka Awatea, A New Dawn’ brings together selected works from public and private collections alongside new commissions.
Emily Karaka, Pandemic, 2021. Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Courtesy of the artist.
This September, Sharjah Art Foundation unveils ‘Emily Karaka: Ka Awatea, A New Dawn’, the first major survey of the work of Senior Māori artist Emily Karaka, a descendant of the many iwi [tribes] of Tāmaki Makaurau, the Auckland Isthmus, Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Kahu and Ngāti Hine. Largely self-taught, Karaka is an abstract expressionist, a colourist and an occasional assemblage artist. Born of the politics of colonisation, her work is personal, passionate and anchored in Māori rights related to the Treaty of Waitangi, the founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Described by Karaka as ‘political landscapes’ or ‘self-portraits personal in the landscape’, her paintings embody her ongoing advocacy for iwi justice and equity. Recognised for their expressionistic intensity, saturated colour palette and often ambitious scale, her canvasses carry messages of Māori sovereignty, social justice, care for the environment and love for her family.
Karaka is of Ngai Tai ki Tāmaki, Te Kawerau ā Maki, Ngāti Tamaoho, Te Ākitai Waiohua, Te Awhiwaru, Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Tāhinga, Ngāti Kahu and Ngāti Hine descent. ‘Ka Awatea, A New Dawn’ is the first major exhibition of the artist’s oeuvre. It highlights the immediacy of her practice as a political artist, her influence as an iwi leader with cultural knowledge and tribal history carried within her work, and her power as a painter. The exhibition brings together selected works drawn from public and private collections, across her five-decade career, alongside new work commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation.
‘Emily Karaka: Ka Awatea, A New Dawn’ is curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director and President of Sharjah Art Foundation, and Megan Tamati-Quennell, of Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Mutunga, Taranaki, Ngai Tahu, Kāti Mamoe and Waitaha descent, co-curator of Sharjah Biennial 16, with Amal Alkhaja, Assistant Curator, and Abdulla Aljanahi, Curatorial Assistant at Sharjah Art Foundation.
Emily Karaka (b. 1952, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand) is of Ngai Tai ki Tāmaki, Te Kawerau ā Maki, Ngāti Tamaoho, Te Ākitai Waiohua, Te Awhiwaru, Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Tāhinga, Ngati Kahu and Ngāti Hine descent.
Karaka’s paintings draw on diverse art-making traditions, including abstract expressionism and toi whakairo, the Māori practice of carving in wood, bone or stone. Characterised by dazzling colour and emotional intensity, her compositions frequently incorporate text and reflect the artist’s longstanding advocacy for Māori sovereignty and autonomy.
Karaka’s works can be found in the collections of institutions such as the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. She recently produced major paintings for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020) and the landmark survey Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art at Toi o Tāmaki (2020).
The exhibition will be on view from the 7th of September until the 1st of December, 2024. For more information, please visit Sharjah Art Foundation.
