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Te Pūkenga Whakaata
 

OPEN DAILY: 10:00am – 4:30pm
Except Christmas Day and Good Friday

New Zealanders: Free Entry
International Visitors (18+): $10


Shed 11, 60 Lady Elizabeth Lane
Wellington Waterfront 6011

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Exhibitions
A Horse Walks Into A Bar: Humour and Portraiture in Aotearoa
Dec 11
A Horse Walks Into A Bar: Humour and Portraiture in Aotearoa

A Horse Walks Into A Bar: Humour and Portraiture in Aotearoa is curated by Liz Stringer Curatorial Intern for 2025, Matthew Whiteman.  Reaching across a half-century of portraiture in Aotearoa, this exhibition offers a potted history of how painters, photographers and video artists have snuck punchlines into the white cubes of the gallery, and to what end.

Image: Maurice Bennett, Self, 2010. 2275 pieces of toast, PVA and 2 pot lacquer on painted board. Collection of New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata

Salome: An Angel of History
Feb 19
Salome: An Angel of History

This new exhibition follows New Zealand artist Yuki Kihara’s exploration of Pacific history through her alter ego Salome.

Image: Yuki Kihara, After Tsunami Galu Afi, Lalomanu, 2013. Courtesy University of Auckland.

only connect: Portraits by Joanna Margaret Paul and Janet Elanie Paul
Mar 5
only connect: Portraits by Joanna Margaret Paul and Janet Elanie Paul

A new exhibition curated by Helen Kedgley of portrait paintings and drawings by Joanna Margaret Paul and her mother Dame Janet Elaine Paul.

[image: Joanna Margaret Paul ‘Self-Portrait’ circa 1970, pencil on paper, 2001/38/2. Collection of Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery. Gift of the artist, 2002.]

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Public Programmes
Monthly Life Drawing
Feb 28
Monthly Life Drawing

Have a go at portraiture in a relaxed setting with our koha monthly life drawing sessions.

Touring Exhibitions →
 
Touring Exhibitions
Robyn Kahukiwa: Tohunga Mahi Toi - The Suter, Nelson
Jan 29
The Suter Art Gallery
Robyn Kahukiwa: Tohunga Mahi Toi - The Suter, Nelson
The Suter Art Gallery

Robyn Kahukiwa’s artworks have made a difference to Māori. They have provided not only beauty and strength but inroads into our mātauranga, and the multi-layered, inter-generational and ever-evolving stories that are part of our cultural landscape. Her work has become an alternate visual rendering of Aotearoa’s history, through the lens of a Māori woman.

Image: Robyn Kahukiwa, Portrait of a Woman, 1986, Private collection, Wellington

The Suter Art Gallery
Ian Scott: Painting New Zealand - Marlborough Art Gallery, Blenheim
Feb 14
Marlborough Art Gallery
Ian Scott: Painting New Zealand - Marlborough Art Gallery, Blenheim
Marlborough Art Gallery

Presenting previously unseen or rarely seen works, this exhibition brings together a selection of Ian Scott’s work from the last three decades of his life.

Image: Rita Angus in Taradale, 1987, Collection Art House Trust

Marlborough Art Gallery
Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award 2025 - Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi
Feb 27
Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi
Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award 2025 - Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi
Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi

The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award is a competition that encourages young Maaori artists to create portraits of their tupuna (ancestors) in any medium. The 2025 finalists’ exhibition will be touring to multiple venues around the motu.

Image: Ashley Tutaki, Back to the Source, Photography (finalist)

Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi
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