Robyn Kahukiwa

Robyn Kahukiwa (born 1938) is an Australian-born New Zealand artist, award-winning children's book author, and illustrator. Kahukiwa has created a significant collection of paintings, books, prints, drawings, and sculptures.

Life
Kahukiwa was born in Sydney, in 1938. She trained as a commercial artist and later moved to New Zealand at the age of nineteen. Kahukiwa's early artworks were inspired by discovering her Māori heritage.

Māori on her mother's side, Kahukiwa is of Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, Ngāti Hau, Ngāti Konohi and Whanau-a-Ruataupare descent.

Career
From 1972 to 1980, Kahukiwa was a regular exhibitor at the Academy in Wellington.

In the 1980s, Kahukiwa gained prominence in New Zealand after her exhibition Wāhine Toa (strong women), which toured the country. This exhibition drew on Māori myth and symbolism. One of the pieces, Hinetītama, is in the permanent collection at Te Manawa.

Kahukiwa's work often deals with themes of colonialism and the dispossession of indigenous people, motherhood and blood-ties, social custom and mythology. In a 2004 article, Kahukiwa implements "political activism in subject matter and method into powerful images that assert Māori identity and tradition."

She is a "staunch supporter of Māori rights and the power and prestige of Māori women."

Kahukiwa's works are influenced by Colin McCahon, Ralph Hotere and Frida Kahlo.

In 2011, Kahukiwa was awarded with the Te Tohu Toi Kē Award from Te Waka Toi, the Māori arm of Creative New Zealand.

Publications

 * Taniwha (1986)
 * Paikea (1993)
 * The Koroua and the Mauri Stone (1994)
 * Kēhua (1996)
 * Supa Heroes: Te Wero (2000)
 * Koha (2003)
 * Matatuhi (2007)
 * The forgotten Taniwha (2009)
 * Tutu Taniwha (2010)
 * Te Marama (2011)
 * The Boy and the Dolphin (2016)
 * Ngā Atua: Māori Gods (2016)

With writer Patricia Grace:
 * The Kuia and the Spider (1981)
 * Watercress Tuna and the Children of Champion Street (1984)
 * Wāhine Toa: Women of Māori Myth (1984)

With Joy Cowley:
 * Grandma's stick (1982)
 * Hatupatu and the birdwoman (1982)

With Rangimarie Sophie Jolley:
 * The Blue Book (2014)

Awards

 * 1994 LIANZA Young People's Non-Fiction Award (now known as Elsie Locke Award) for Paikea
 * 2011 Te Tohu Toi Kē | Making a Difference Award