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Mata Aho Collective and Maureen Lander are the tenth recipients of the Walters Prize, New Zealand’s preeminent biennial contemporary art award. Initiated by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in 2001, the Walters Prize is considered the highest accolade for contemporary art in New Zealand. The prize awards 50,000 NZD to the winning artist. Mata Aho Collective and Maureen Lander were selected by judge Kate Fowle, Director of MoMA PS1 in New York, for their presentation of Atapō, 2020.
Of the four finalists, including Mata Aho Collective and Maureen Lander’s presentation, Fowle says: “The installations bring nuanced perspectives on social, cultural and political urgencies of our time that each deserve our attention and engagement. As such, it does not feel appropriate to award the prize based on a personal selection of one work over another…”
“Instead, I would like to award the prize to Mata Aho Collective and Maureen Lander as a celebration of the inspiration they bring through their sustained collective practices, as well as for the potential futures they offer in their collaborative thinking and generative processes. For me, these qualities, together with the commitment the artists have to creating proximity, signal the work that needs to be done by all of us in the coming years, regardless of the barriers we encounter.”
Fowle made her selection from exhibited works by artists Fiona Amundsen, Sonya Lacey, Mata Aho Collective and Maureen Lander, and Sriwhana Spong. These artists were nominated by an independent jury for an artwork first exhibited in the immediately preceeding years that has made an outstanding contribution to contemporary art in New Zealand.
“The eight women that were selected by the jury, and the four installations that they have produced, reveal incredible sophistication in how to invite us to embrace often fluctuating or contradictory perspectives on a story or a phenomenon that is otherwise somehow out of reach. As different in form and subject as each presentation is, there is a powerful, uniting force in how they each ask us to slow down, listen, be present, think again and be aware of our environment, ourselves, our contexts,” says Fowle.
The invitation to judge the Walters Prize 2021 extends the legacy of engagement between key international figures and the contemporary art community in New Zealand. Previous Walters Prize judges are Adriano Pedrosa (2018), Doryun Chong (2016), Charles Esche (2014), Mami Kataoka (2012), Vicente Todolí (2010), Catherine David (2008), Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (2006), Robert Storr (2004) and Harald Szeemann (2002).
The Walters Prize was inaugurated in 2001 under the joint initiative of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and founding benefactors and principal donors Erika and Robin Congreve and Dame Jenny Gibbs. From 2004, Dayle, Lady Mace became a major donor, joined by Christopher and Charlotte Swasbrook in 2014. The Prize endeavours to focus on the achievement of artistic excellence, demonstrated by a relevant work or body of work, as it is seen to impact on or exert influence over contemporary art in New Zealand.
Mata Aho Collective and Maureen Lander join a celebrated list of former Walters Prize winners: contemporary New Zealand artists Ruth Buchanan (2018), Shannon Te Ao (2016), Luke Willis Thompson (2014), Kate Newby (2012), Dan Arps (2010), Peter Robinson (2008), Francis Upritchard (2006), et al. (2004) and Yvonne Todd (2002).
Mata Aho Collective was established in 2012 by:
Erena Baker, born 1984 (Te Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai, Ngāti Toa Rangatira), Palmerston North. Lives and works in Palmerston North.
Sarah Hudson, born 1986 (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Pūkeko, Ngāi Tūhoe), Auckland. Lives and works in Whakatāne.
Bridget Reweti, born 1985 (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi), Te Puke. Lives and works in Dunedin/Ōtepoti.
Dr Terri Te Tau, born 1981 (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne ki Wairarapa), Sydney. Lives and works in Pōhangina Valley, Manawatū.
Maureen Lander, born 1942 (Te Hikutu, Te Roroa, Ngāpuhi, Pākehā), Rawene. Lives and works in Whangamata.
Curated by Natasha Conland, Curator Contemporary Art, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Contact: Priscilla Southcombe, Communications Officer, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
priscilla.southcombe [at] aucklandartgallery.com / T +64 21 548 480
