Robyn Kahukiwa

born 1938, Sydney
Ngāti Porou (Ngāti Hau, Ngāti Konohi, Te Whānau-a-Ruataupare, Te Whānau-a-Te Aotawarirangi), Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti

Since the early 1970s, Robyn Kahukiwa has explored questions of heritage, identity, and sovereignty central to the Māori experience and relevant to Indigenous people internationally. Best known as a painter, she has also produced prints, drawings, and sculpture. Her practice ranges across diverse subjects, including colonisation and dispossession, motherhood and wellbeing, whakapapa and tikanga Māori. She exhibits regularly and has works in collections all over the world.

'We have never been assimilated despite many attempts by successive governments to make Māori and Pākehā one people. Today's Māori are living proof of the continuum of whakapapa, the power of our achievements and the survival of an intact, dynamic culture.'
ROBYN KAHUKIWA
Tihe Mauri Ora, 1990
Oil and alkyd oil on unstretched canvas
2100 x 3580mm
Fletcher Trust Collection, Tāmaki Makaurau
ROBYN KAHUKIWA
Aroha, 1971
Oil on board
590 x 590mm
Fletcher Trust Collection, Tāmaki Makaurau
ROBYN KAHUKIWA
The migration, 1973
Oil on board
700 x 855mm
Collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Te Whanganui-a-Tara
ROBYN KAHUKIWA
Taranga, 1982
(Wāhine Toa series)
Oil on board
1190 x 1190mm
Collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Te Whanganui-a-Tara

ROBYN KAHUKIWA
Hinetītama, 1980
(Wāhine Toa series)
Oil on board
1320 x 1320mm
Collection of Te Manawa, Te Papaioea Palmerston North
ROBYN KAHUKIWA
My Ancestors Are Always with Me, 1995
Oil,enamel and alkyd on canvas
1215 x 910mm
Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery TePuna o Waiwhetū

ROBYN KAHUKIWA
He Roimata, 1985
(Whakatauākī series)
Oil on canvas
645 x 880mm
Private collection
ROBYN KAHUKIWA
The Outcast, 1980
Oil on board
1230 x 1030mm
Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection
ROBYN KAHUKIWA
Tēnā i Ruia, 1987
Acrylic on canvas
2075 x 4025mm
Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū

ROBYN KAHUKIWA
Pepeha, 2022
(Pepeha series)
Screen print on Fabriano 5 paper
Edition of 25
500 x 700mm (paper)
630 x 830mm (frame)
Enquire
ROBYN KAHUKIWA
Pātai ki ngā Poutū o te Whare
(Ask the Posts of the House), 2022
Acrylic on cotton canvas
700 x 900mm
Private collection, Sydney

ROBYN KAHUKIWA
Ka Whakaahua a Hinetītama ki a Hinenuitepō (Hinetītama Becomes Hinenuitepō), 2022
Acrylic on cotton canvas
900 x 700mm
Collection of Te Manawa, Te Papaioea Palmerston North

ROBYN KAHUKIWA
Tīwaiwaka, 2022
Acrylic on cotton canvas
700 x550mm
Private collection, Sydney
ROBYN KAHUKIWA
Incarcerated, 2022
Acrylic on canvas in custom sapele frame
900 x 700mm
Private collection

ROBYN KAHUKIWA
Tuakiri, 2022
Acrylic on canvas in custom sapele frame
760 x 760mm
Private collection, Sydney

ROBYN KAHUKIWA
Survivor, 2022
Acrylic on linen in custom sapele frame
550 x 700mm
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ROBYN KAHUKIWA
Māori Never Ceded Sovereignty to the Crown, 2023
Sovereign series
Acrylic on cotton canvas in custom sapele frame
700 x 900mm
Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū

ROBYN KAHUKIWA
Sovereign, 2023
Sovereign series
Acrylic on cotton canvas in custom sapele frame
900 x 700mm
Enquire