In this episode, I sit down with Lisa Reihana at her studio in Tāmaki Makaurau.
This episode is part of a series I’m delivering this season for the McCahon House Parehuia Residency, celebrating their 20th Anniversary, where I’m volunteering the services of The Good Oil to highlight the wonderful and important work they do, and some of their very impressive alumni, which includes Lisa.
Lisa holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts, and a Master of Design from School of Visual Art and Design, Unitec Institute of Technology. In the 2018 New Year Honours, Lisa was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to art.
Her work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, The National Gallery of Australia, The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and the The Staatliche Museum in Berlin.
She has also been the recipient of several art prizes and residencies, including of course being Alumni of the McCahon House Parehuia residency, and represented Aotearoa at the 2017 Venice Biennale
All of those are just some of the proof points that Lisa is conducting one of Aotearoa’s most impressive and well recognised practices, often on an international stage.
Lisa is represented by Page Galleries in Te Wanganui-a-Tara Wellington.
There are images of the works that we talk about on The Good Oil Lisa Reihana Instagram Post for your reference.
In the episode, you’ll hear about the role of costumes in her practice, how the street she grew up on created a kind of empathic privilege she has transferred into the practice, how important it is that she invites tamariki into the work as well as adults, and the generous approach she takes to collaboration.
