Travelsmartplanet

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.

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.

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.

Thirty-nine per cent of people living in the NZ area were born somewhere else. In 2018, artists Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan created Pillars: Project Another Country to expound on human migration across oceans, displacement, relocation and settlement. When you move from one place to another, how do you become part of a community, what constitutes your family, and how are houses/homes built around these needs and relationships? The Aquilizans were born in the Philippines, work between Manila and Brisbane, so they very well understand the conversation about ‘belonging’ and what people call ‘home’. This huge hanging upside-down sculpture shows people falling out of a boat and creating homes.

So many of New Zealand’s famous names are unknown in North America. In 1919, the centennial year of artist Colin McCahon’s birth, a huge exhibit of many of his creations was set up in the Auckland Art Gallery. This is one of McCahon’s earlier paintings titled “The first Waterfall” which was painted in 1964. McCahon was a driving force for art in NZ; He helped run the Auckland CityArt gallery, installed exhibitions, taught art classes and painted too. 

The food in New Zealand was a delicious surprise. Look how simple it is to make rice look pretty.

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Wherever you are in New Zealand, you are never far from a beach or birds. Here, the birds are the only ones enjoying Eastern Beach.

When your name is Stanley, it’s a bit of a thrill to have a street named after you…This one is in Auckland, New Zealand.

The Sky Tower in Auckland, NZ is the tallest freestanding structure in the Southern hemisphere. It sits at the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets and is 328 metres (1,076 ft) tall.

In the stately columned Auckland War Museum, you can discover the world’s largest collection of Maori and Polynesian artifacts. Sitting impressively in the center is a large ornately carved Hotunui meetinghouse from 1878 and a Waka (war canoe), Te Toki-a-Tapiri from 1836. They’re heart and soul of the museum, yet there’s lots more.