Charlotte Graham
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Born in 1972 of Ngati Mahuta, Ngai Tai descent, Charlotte Graham is one of a generation of Maori artists who draw on their tribal heritage in order to explore critical issues that affect New Zealand society such as racism, cultural stereotyping, and land rights including the foreshore and seabed legislation. Graham's work is a visual narrative that explores the relationship between the people and the land, interweaving images and text from historical documents, poetry & music and has recently explored notions of politics and the healing of cultural and racial rifts.
Graham graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor of Maori Visual Arts from Massey University, Palmerston North, where she studied under the tutelage of Robert Jahnke, Shane Cotton and Kura te Waru Rewiri. In 2008, Graham completed a Post-Graduate Diploma of Maori Visual Arts.
Graham has featured in numerous exhibitions throughout New Zealand with venues including the Sarjeant Gallery, Manawatu Museum and the Dowse Museum. She has also exhibited internationally including in Te Tataitanga at the Southwest School of Art and Craft, San Antonio, Texas. She held her first solo exhibition entitled Trouble in Paradise at Oedipus Rex in 2004. In 2003, Graham was commissioned to paint a mural with Nanette Lelaulu, Manu Scott, and local school students. The work was credited with a Creative Communities Award. In 2004 Graham was a Creative New Zealand Recipient.
Graham held her second solo show entitled Ngaa Karetao in2005. The work was received favourably as it rejuvenated an endangered customary art form. In 2007, Graham travelled to Hawaii to participate and exhibit in the Indigenous Artists Gathering, Waimea, Hawaii. She lives and works in Auckland.