Mahiriki Tangaroa

Mahiriki Tangaroa (born 1973) is a New Zealand-born Cook Islands photographer and painter. She is a former director of the Cook Islands National Museum. She is recognised as a leading contemporary Cook Islands artist, and her work is regularly exhibited in galleries in New Zealand and the Cook Islands.

Of Cook Islands heritage, Tangaroa was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and grew up in Christchurch. She studied photography at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts, before returning to the Cook Islands in 1998. In 1998, Ian George curated Paringa Ou, the first major exhibition of contemporary art by Cook Island artists residing in New Zealand featuring artists such as Ani O'Neill, Sylvia Marsters, Mahiriki Tangaroa, Michel Tuffery, Jim Vivieaere, Ian George, and Kay George, the exhibition travelled to the National Museum in Fiji, Cook Islands National Museum, as well as Gus Fisher Gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. The exhibition was sponsored by the New Zealand High Commission.

In 2000 Tangaroa was appointed director of the Cook Islands National Museum, a position she held for three years. She subsequently worked as the director of the Beachcomber Gallery in Avarua.

Tangaroa began to paint in 1999. Her work is inspired by ancient Cook Islands art and artefacts, including the "fisherman's god" Tangaroa, the war god Rongo and the goddess of Aitutaki. Tangaroa's paintings ignites the discussions about the loss of pre-colonial and pre-Christianity culture in the Cook Islands, how indigenous gods that Cook Islanders once worshipped is turned into mass produced commercial exploitation. Her exhibitions draws large crowds in the Cook Islands.

In 2010, Tangaroa was invited to curate the exhibition Atua: sacred art from Polynesia, which was displayed at the National Gallery of Australia and the St. Louis Art Museum in the USA.

Tangaroa is the niece of Cook Islands politician Tina Browne.

In 2022, Tangaroa had a solo exhibition titled Kaveinga – Angels of the Ocean, presented by Bergman Gallery in Venice, Italy as part of European Cultural Centre: Personal Structures coinciding Venice Biennale.

Selected solo exhibitions

 * 2022: Kaveinga - Angels of the Ocean, European Cultural Centre - Italy: Personal Structures: Reflections, Venice, Italy
 * 2020: In a Perfect World, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
 * 2019: Earth, Wind & Fire... Irrespective of Place, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
 * 2019: Kia Maeva Tatou, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
 * 2016: Blessed again by the Gods, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
 * 2009: M101, BCA Gallery, Photographic Exhibition, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
 * 2008: Mangoes in the Morning, Gallery De Novo, Dunedin, New Zealand
 * 2008: Exit of Itoro, Reef Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2003: Avatea, Letham Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand

Selected group exhibitions

 * 2022: Te Atuitanga - Between our Cloak of Stars, Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2022: OCEANIA NOW: Contemporary Art from the Pacific, Christie's, Paris, France
 * 2019: Auckland Art Fair, Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2010: MANUIA, BCA Gallery (now Bergman Gallery), the American Indian Community House, New York, United States of America
 * 1998: Paringa Ou, Rarotonga, Cook Islands National Museum
 * 1998: Paringa Ou, Fiji Museum, Fiji
 * 1998: Paringa Ou, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand