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New Zealand: Auckland – Guerrilla Girls Exhibit at Auckland Art Gallery Toi oTamaki

Founded in New York City in 1985, the Guerilla Girls movement has been challenging feminine bias in art, politics, film, and pop culture since then. The catalyst was a 1984 exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC which was an International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture. Of the 165 important paintings and sculptures mentioned, only 15 were created by women. The furor of this inequity started the Guerilla Girls movement of defiant and humorous pamphlets, videos, books posters, posted around the world. They had had enough of gender and racial discrimination in museums everywhere. This call to action was to erase the double standard. It took the US film industry’s  Academy Awards community until 2018 to get to the same place.

New Zealand: Auckland – Photo of Tattoo Artist (Tohunga) at work

Tohunga or tattoo artists are still at work in New Zealand creating the symbolic intricate body tattoos for the Maori people. You can see these photos in the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki’s Living Portrait gallery.

New Zealand: Auckland – To-hunga-ta-moto: Tattoo Artists at Work

Found this painting of tattooing, the most interesting of Gottfried Lindauer’s paintings in the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki’s Living Portrait gallery. Only the most important tattoo artists (Tohunga) are allowed to create and maintain the integrity of the facial tattoo art form. This work is being done on a porch while a young tribal leader lies on a whariki, a special mat allowed for those high rank. His head rests on lap of the Tohunga while his hands are clenched in obvious discomfort. The other gentleman is also a Tohunga and he is chanting rituals for a safe and successful completion of  the pawaha, the creation of the important tatooed facial lines.

New Zealand: Auckland – Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki Living Portrait

One of the most visited part of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki is the area showing the living portraits or Mata Raurangi of Maori tribal leaders by Gottfried Lindauer. This one of Wi Te Manewha sports an authentic bird feathered shirt. Lindauer, a late 19th early 20th century portrait painter did many portraits of the tribal leaders found in this gallery.

New Zealand: Auckland – Two Faces of a Maori Tribal Leader

Here are two painted versions of Renata Kawepo, Tama ki Hikurangi found in the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki. The first painting is by Gottfried Lindauer, the portrait artist, who painted most of the famous leaders. The second one, in a more modernistic style, is by Ayesha Green who shares a tribal connection to Kawepo being of Ngati Kahungunu, from the Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand. Renata Kawepo is buried there.

New Zealand: Auckland – Maori Tribal Leaders at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki

One of the most visited parts of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki are the living portraits or Mata Raurangi of Maori tribal leaders. This one of Eru Tamaikoha Te Ariari, a Maori tribal leader was painted in 1885 is by Gottfried Lindauer, a late 19th early 20th century portrait painter. Lindauer did many portraits of the tribal leaders.

US: Seattle, WA – Seattle Mural

This huge Seattle wall mural is made of colorful mosaic pieces.

US: Seattle, WA – Chihuly Garden and Glass Building

Cheerful giant glass sunflowers decorate the outside of the famous Chihuly Garden and Glass museum in Seattle. If you like these, wait till you see what’s inside. And don’t miss the garden.

US: Seattle, WA – Hall of Glass Chandeliers

Look up when you walk through this corridor at the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum in Seattle, WA. You can pick the colored chandelier of your dreams.

US: Seattle, WA – Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle, WA

Bushes don’t get as beautiful as this Dave Chihuly glass one in Seattle WA .