Tāwera Tahuri

Name
Tāwera Tahuri
Iwi/Ethnicity
Ngā Ariki Kaipūtahi/Māori
Te Whakatōhea/Māori
Ngāti Uenuku/Māori
Ngāti Tūwharetoa/Māori
Date of birth
1970
Gender
Female
Biography
Tawera Tahuri is a multidisciplinary artist, teacher and activist. She holds a Master of Māori Visual Arts from Massey University in Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington, with previous study at Toihoukura, Eastern Institute of Technology and Christchurch College of Education.

The foundation of Tahuri’s activism and artworks is her iwi’s revitalisation with its Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi) claim, WAI 507. Informed by artists Emily Karaka and Kura Te Waru Rewiri, her use of vibrant colour over freestanding sculpture and expressionistic paintings reveal figures of her whakapapa (ancestry).

For more than 20 years, Tahuri has taught te reo Māori (the Māori language), and visual and performing arts. She is a board member of Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples and current doctoral student at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi.