Exhibitions Public Programmes Ticketed Public Events Friends Events Past Exhibitions Past Public Programmes Adam Portraiture Award Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award Ovenden Lecture Touring Exhibitions
Visit Contact Us About Us Access Venue Hire Join the team Friends of the Gallery Latest news Annual Reports Group bookings
Donate Become a Friend Make a Bequest Gift a portrait Our Supporters
Education Bookings Learning Educators Search the collection
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

Plan your visit →
Donate →
Exhibitions →
 
Exhibitions
Reclaimed Land: Tāngata, Tiriti, Taiao
Nov 20
Reclaimed Land: Tāngata, Tiriti, Taiao

Drawing together work by contemporary artists, Reclaimed Land: Tāngata, Tiriti, Taiao presents a portrait of the earth told through personal, ancestral and collective relationships between he tāngata and te taiao. These artists take action for nature, and tell stories of collective futures. Their works reclaim the land, reminding us that to tend to the land is to tend to ourselves.

Curated by Israel Randell and Susan Ballard 

Image: Tia Ranginui, Ka Hapai te Rama, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Laree Payne Gallery.  

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.

public programme →
Public Programmes
Artist Talk - Yuki Kihara
Feb 19
Artist Talk - Yuki Kihara

Join Yuki Kihara and Jaenine Parkinson in conversation on the opening day of Salome: An Angel of History.

Image: Yuki Kihara by Ralph Brown and Jaenine Parkinson image supplied.

(Early) Night Comedy
Feb 20
(Early) Night Comedy

Playing up the laughs in A Horse Walks Into A Bar: Humour and Portraiture in Aotearoa, join us for an (early) night of stand-up comedy, featuring local comics James Nokise, Mike Fowler, and Samantha Hannah.

Panel Discussion
Feb 21
Panel Discussion

Join Dr April K. Henderson, Dr Peter Brunt and Yuki Kihara in conversation, facilitated by exhibition curator Jaenine Parkinson.

Images: Yuki Kihara by Ralph Brown. April Henderson, Peter Brunt and Jaenine Parkinson image supplied.

Touring Exhibitions →
 
Touring Exhibitions
Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award 2025 - Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum & Gallery
Sep 12
Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum & Gallery
Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award 2025 - Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum & Gallery
Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum & Gallery

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 Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum & Gallery
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
Explore the collection →