LISA REIHANA

Reihana is best known for her large-scale video installation in Pursuit of Venus [infected] (2015–17), which reimagines the 19th-century French wallpaper Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique. The work was exhibited at the 2017 Venice Biennale, where she represented New Zealand.

Early Life and Education

Born in 1964 in Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau, Reihana gained a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts (1987) and a Master of Design from School of Visual Art and Design, Unitec Institute of Technology (2014).

The Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, and Ngāi Tū artist is a core member of Pacific Sisters. The Indigenous collective emerged in Auckland in the 1990s, bringing the lives of a New Zealand-born Pacific generation into the mainstream through fashion and performance.

Venice Biennale 2017 - in Pursuit of Venus infected

Reihana represented New Zealand at the 2017 Venice Biennale. Her large-scale video installation in Pursuit of Venus [infected] reexamines European narratives of Pacific colonisation with a focus on Joseph Dufour 19th-century wallpaper Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique (The Native Peoples of the Pacific Ocean).

‘On the [original] wallpaper is a whole series of imagery based around Pacific people, and I wanted to create a correction about that work. So it’s not just a film about encounters, but an encounter for the audience,’ says Reihana. ’[The scene] just didn’t look anything like the Pacific. Dufour presented a utopian Tahitian landscape. It is “nowhere”,’ the artist told Ocula Magazine.

in Pursuit of Venus [infected] was shown at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa as part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts in 2022, for which Reihana was the artist in focus.

What themes does Lisa Reihana explore in her art?

Reihana’s work examines the construction of identity and history, colonisation, gender, and the representation of Indigenous peoples. She often uses portraiture and immersive cinematic techniques to interrogate how stories of the past are told and to highlight overlooked perspectives, particularly those of Māori and Pacific communities.

What awards and honours has Lisa Reihana received?

In addition to representing Aotearoa New Zealand at the Venice Biennale, Reihana has received numerous accolades, including the Arts Laureate Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand (2014), the Te Tohu Toi Ke Te Waka Toi Māori Arts Innovation Award from Creative New Zealand (2015), and she was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2018. In 2022, she was promoted to Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to the arts

Private and public collections holding her work include Te Papa Tongarewa; Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki; Australia National Gallery; Staatliche Museum, Berlin; Susan O’Connor Foundation, Texas; Brooklyn Museum, New York; LACMA, Los Angeles; AGO, Toronto; de Young Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco; and Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Important Exhibitions and Seminal Works

Lisa Reihana’s work has been shown in North America, Europe, Asia, and New Zealand.

Notable exhibitions of Reihana’s work have been shown at: Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki; MARKK Museum am Rothemburg, Hamburg; Duolun Museum of Modern Art Centre, Shanghai; Sydney Biennale; Sharjah Art Foundation, U.A.E.; Royal Academy, London; Te Papa Tongarewa: Wellington; Museum Van Loon, Amsterdam; Plug In ICA, Winnipeg; Brooklyn Museum, New York; and Asia Society Museum, New York.

GLISTEN

Recent major projects include GLISTEN (2024), a three-sided outdoor sculpture adorned with 114,000 shimmer discs, commissioned for National Gallery Singapore’s Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Gallery. Inspired by Malaysian Songket and Māori Tāniko weaving patterns, the work celebrates the traditions and pivotal roles of women weavers from Southeast Asia and Māori communities.

Māramatanga

Reihana’s video installation Māramatanga, a six-metre-tall digital work, is now on permanent display at the University of Auckland’s Symonds Street campus, marking the first major digital work commissioned for the University of Auckland Art Collection.

In 2025, Reihana will present a major international exhibition at Ngununggula, Australia, showcasing digital artworks, photography, a new iteration of Māramatanga, and a site-specific installation inspired by First Nations stories and her approach in GLISTEN.

GOLD_LEAD_WOOD_COAL at Tai Kwun Contemporary

In November 2024, Reihana presented the immersive multi-channel video installation DigiRadiance: GOLD_LEAD_WOOD_COAL at Tai Kwun Contemporary in Hong Kong. The artist discussed the work in an interview with Ocula in 2024.

Specially commissioned for the heritage arts centre’s F Hall Studio, the work enveloped viewers across four walls in a visual and sonic journey that intertwined Aotearoa New Zealand and Hong Kong histories with fiction. Drawing on the tragic 1902 sinking of the SS Ventnor—which was carrying the remains of around 500 Chinese gold miners from New Zealand back to Hong Kong and Guangzhou—Reihana explored themes of foreign labour, migration, displacement, and belonging. By fusing Māori and Cantonese traditions and historical references, Reihana foregrounded stories of care, resilience, and shared humanity, prompting reflection on diasporic histories and the often-unspoken traumas of migration.

Lisa Reihana’s Website and Representation

The artist’s website is here. She is represented by Page Galleries in Wellington, New Zealand, and Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert in Sydney, Australia.

Ocula | 2025