- Amy Howden-Chapman2014
- Ana Iti2020
- Andrew McLeod2007
- Andy Leleisi’uao2010
- Anoushka Akel2024
- Ava Seymour2009
- Ayesha Green2022
- Ben Cauchi2011
- Benjamin Work2024
- Bepen Bhana2016
- Campbell Patterson2015
- Cora-Allan Lafaiki Twiss2021
- Dan Arps2014
- Daniel Malone2014
- Emily Karaka2021
- Emma Fitts2018
- Eve Armstrong2009
- Fiona Pardington2013
- Gavin Hipkins2007
- George Watson2024
- Glen Hayward2011
- Imogen Taylor2017
- James Robinson2007
- Jess Johnson2019
- Jim Speers2010
- Juanita McLauchlan2025
- Judy Millar2006
- Kathy Barry2012
- Linda Va'aelua2026
- Lisa Reihana2009
- Liyen Chong2012
- Louie Zalk-Neale2026
- Louise Menzies2016
- Luise Fong2008
- Madison Kelly2024
- Martin Basher2010
- Matthew Galloway2025
- Michael Stevenson2023
- Moniek Schrijer2021
- NELL2023
- Neke Moa2023
- Nicola Farquhar2018
- Oliver Perkins2017
- Owen Connors2023
- Regan Gentry2012
- Richard Frater2020
- Richard Lewer2008
- Rohan Wealleans2008
- Rowan Panther2025
- Ruth Buchanan2013
- Sarah Hudson2025
- Sarah Smuts-Kennedy2016
- Sefton Rani2025
- Sorawit Songsataya2018
- Steve Carr2020
- Suji Park2015
- Syyoung Kim2026
- Tanu Gago2022
- Taro Shinoda2017
- Tiffany Singh2013
- Tim Wagg2019
- Wayne Youle2019
- Zac Langdon-Pole2022
- Zena Elliott2026
Zena Elliott
YEAR OF RESIDENCY
January - April 2026
Zena Elliott, Ruru: Rauponga, 2022
Zena Elliott (Ngāti Awa, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāi Te Rangi, and Te Arawa) is a Waikato-based interdisciplinary artist, researcher and educator whose practice spans painting, sculpture, whakairo, installation and speculative sonic kōwhaiwhai.
Their work explores themes of Māori identity and culture, gender fluidity, popular culture, Indigenous diaspora and futurism. Drawing on these diverse influences, they combine and reimagine motifs, icons, materials and colours to create a distinctive and recognisable visual language.
Zena recently won the prestigious National Contemporary Art Award at Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum & Gallery. They have exhibited in over 80 solo and group exhibitions, including Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and are featured in a range of national and international publications.
They hold a Master of Fine Arts, Bachelors of Whakairo, Adult Education and Media Arts (with post graduate honours) and Diplomas in Whakairo and Adult Education.
Artist Artworks
Zena Elliott
2025
acrylic on laminated carved board
400 x 390 x 100mm
$15,000
Photo: Sam Hartnett
Contact us to purchase this edition.
This carved being sits in the space where te taiao and urban structure meet, push against each other, and become tangled. It carries that tension without belonging fully to one side or the other. Its form comes through layers of paint, sci-fi Māori inspired carved languages, and the patterning of rauponga, alongside the marks, cuts, and structures found in both nature and built space. This work also speaks to the local residents of Parehuia, who move through the night and bring tohu.
Zena Elliott
Rāhui
2026
acrylic on board
1200 x 1000mm
Collection of McCahon House Trust
Photo: Sam Hartnett
This work comes from thinking about restrictions, tapu/noa, movement, pressure, and the way te taiao keeps pushing back against built space. In the paintings and the carving, I’m looking at the relationship between natural and constructed worlds as something that is always shifting, never fixed. For me, the built environment is not separate from the living world, but caught within it, shaped by tension, change, and growth. Through this work, Māori and Indigenous ways of knowing are still present, finding their way through and holding space.
Zena Elliott, Ruru: Rauponga, 2022