Ayesha Green Folk Nationalism

from ARTS ZINE MAY 2023

Maraea Timutimu:

Ayesha Green is a contemporary Māori artist from New Zealand who works across various mediums, including painting, printmaking, and installation art. She was born in 1987 in Auckland, New Zealand and has Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu, and Pākehā (European) ancestry. Her art explores themes of cultural identity, colonialism, and power dynamics. Her work often incorporates Maori iconography and symbols, such as the tāniko weaving pattern, which she uses to comment on the ongoing impact of colonialism on Māori culture and society.

In 2015, Ayesha gained recognition for her painting series "Infidel," which featured studies of Māori and Pacific Islander women wearing traditional dress and holding contemporary objects such as cell phones and cigarettes. The series was a commentary on the interaction between traditional and contemporary Maori and Pacific Islander culture, and the ongoing struggle for cultural autonomy.

In addition to her art, Ayesha is a lecturer at the University of Auckland's Elam School of Fine Arts. Her contributions to the arts have been recognized with several awards, including the Te Tohu Aroha mō Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu Award and the Arts Foundation New Generation Award. The following information about Ayesha Green’s exhibition was provided by the Tauranga Art Gallery.

Folk Nationalism continues the artist’s interrogation into histories of Māori and Pākehā representation and the role that images and language play in perpetuating systems of power. Ayesha often reclaims and recontextualises existing historical images (by the likes of Marcus King and Isaac Coates) to question where power lies and where Māori can gain agency against those historical images. While Ayesha’s paintings are often characterised by her simplified rendition of figures and forms, they represent a bold approach to issues concerning her Māori whakapapa –passed down through women over four generations.

Ayesha Green is the 2021 recipient of the Rydal Art Prize – a major contemporary painting prize administered by Tauranga Art Gallery Toi Tauranga in collaboration with Seeds Trust. Folk Nationalism is a key outcome of the Prize.