Well-known New Zealand painter Robyn Kahukiwa has died.
The family announced her passing on social media.
“Māreikura, Wahine Toa, and Tohunga mahi toi Māori Robyn Kahukiwa – of Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, Ngāti Konohi, and Te Whānau-a-Ruataupare descent, passed away peacefully after illness on April 11,2025 with she said, her kaitiaki near, wrapped in the korowai of aroha and pouritanga of our whānau.”
Māori artist and children's book author Robyn Kahukiwa has died at age 87. Photo / Reina Kahukiwa
Kahukiwa was known for her bold depictions of Māori figures, particularly women, incorporating elements of traditional Māori symbolism, often in urban settings and frequently representing themes of activism. Her works were shown both in Aotearoa and overseas.
“My mother and our Nanny Robyn was a courageous Wahine Toa throughout her life and in her passing,” the family said in a statement.
“She was a private person in her personal life. She always said ‘My art speaks for me.‘”
Robyn Kahukiwa, Hinetītama, 1980. Photo / Collection of Te Manawa Art Society
Kahukiwa, of Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, Ngāti Konohi, and Te Whānau-a-Ruataupare descent, was born in 1938 in Sydney, an Auckland Art Gallery artist biography said.
“Since her first solo exhibition in 1971, she has been engaged in representing Māori as a way of supporting the reclamation of tino rangatiratanga (sovereignty and self-determination),” it said.
Robyn Kahukiwa's 2021 Mana Māori Motuhake. Photo / Robyn Kahukiwa
She also wrote and illustrated children’s books, including collaborating with writer Patricia Grace.
Marking an exhibition of her work near the end of 2024, at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery, the gallery wrote: “Robyn Kahukiwa’s artworks have made a difference to Māori. They have provided not only beauty and strength but inroads into our mātauranga, and the multi-layered, inter-generational and ever-evolving stories that are part of our cultural landscape.
“Her work has become an alternate visual rendering of Aotearoa’s history, through the lens of a Māori woman. The title Tohunga Mahi Toi is a form of recognition and refers to Robyn’s status and expertise as an artist, valued here and internationally.”
In 2020, Kahukiwa was awarded Te Tohu Aroha mō Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, the Exemplary/ Supreme Award at Te Waka Toi Awards, for her work.
The family said in its statement, “You leave your great legacy of Māori art, and the taonga of your stories and illustrations for us your whānau, your mokopuna, and future generations.”
- RNZ
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