Suzanne Tamaki

Suzanne Tamaki (Ngāti Maniapoto, Tūhoe) is an artist and social provocateur. Working across fashion, photography and moving image, she creates visual narratives that respond to cultural-politics in Aotearoa. Her works often investigate the nature of indigenous feminisms in the South Pacific, challenging the colonial gaze. Likewise, her works also critique Western ideas of nationhood within a bi-cultural nation.  

Taonga Talkback is a series of recent video works which offer local perspectives on issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement. Originally made for social media, most of the works in Taonga Talkback are less than 2 minutes long, shot on a phone, and wildly irreverant exercises designed to affirm political agency and cultural sovereignty.  

Suzanne is a member of the collectives Pacific Sisters and SaVAge K’lub. Her work is held in museum collections in Aotearoa and worldwide at institutions including Te Papa Tongarewa National Museum of New Zealand (with Pacific Sisters); Casula Museum, Sydney, Australia; The British Museum, UK; University of Cambridge Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, UK; Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, Aotearoa.

CIRCUIT Resources

Interview with Israel Randell (2020)

Selected Exhibitions

2021
Kiingi Tuheitia Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, Wellington

2019
A Bloody Encounter, Pataka Museum, Porirua
The Unholy Trinity, Potocki Paterson Gallery, Wellington
Native Eye in Maoriland, Maoriland Film Festival, Otaki
Pacific Sisters Fashion Activists, Auckland Art Gallery

2018
Fashionista Revolution, Pataka Museum, Porirua
Pacific Sisters Fashion Activists, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
Native Eye on Courtenay, Courtenay Place lightboxes, Wellington
Performance Arcade, Wellington waterfront

2017
Hine Pae Kura, Pataka Museum, Porirua
InDigiNous, Urban Sharman Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada
Pukana Whakarunga, Pukana Whakararo, Toi Poneke, Wellington

2017-15
Waitangi Wahine, Expressions, Wellington; Whangarei Museum; Tauranga Art Gallery; Tairawhiti Museum, Gisborne; Waitangi Museum

2016
Arts and Resistance Festival, Thistle Hall, Wellington
Mata Ariki, Kura Gallery, Wellington
Tangata, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts

2015
The 8th Asia Pacific Triennial, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art
The Signing, NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington

2014
Ebbing Tagaloa, Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, Auckland
Mata Waka, Nathan Homestead, Auckland

2011
Maiden Aotearoa, City Gallery