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National | Arts

Māori artists auction flag designs for charity

Four leading Māori Artists design flags for Aotearoa which are now up for auction on Trade Me and all proceeds will go to UNICEF’s Cyclone Pam Appeal.

As part of a special live debate on the future of the New Zealand flag, Māori Television's current affairs programme Native Affairs asked for leading New Zealand artists Sofia Minson, Tracey Tawhiao, Natasha Keating and Zarahn Southon to design a flag.

This flag was designed by Sofia Minson and is painted on canvas.

Sofia Minson is a contemporary New Zealand oil painter of Ngāti Porou, Swedish, English and Irish descent.  From her studio in Auckland, Sofia paints bold, soulful, finely detailed portraits, landscapes and surreal oil works.  She is inspired by the land, myths and people of Aotearoa (NZ) as well as the unity she sees amongst richly diverse cultures from around the world.  Watch her Native Affairs interview here.

This flag was designed by Natasha Keating and is painted on recycled timber.

Natasha Keating (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Ati Haunui a Pāpārangi) is a mother of three who has been exhibiting nationally and internationally for 20 years.  She is passionate about the Arts and has worked in theatre, TV and film production.  Her paintings acknowledge the relationship between descendants and ancestors as well as contemporary issues faced by Māori women.  Watch her Native Affairs interview here.

This flag was designed by Tracey Tawhiao and is white acrylic marker on leatherette 100cm x 68cm

Tracey Tawhiao (Ngāi te Rangi, Whakatōhea, Tūwharetoa) was born in 1967.  She is a multi-skilled contemporary artist who has studied and worked in a variety of fields.  Tracey is a writer, performance poet, filmmaker, qualified lawyer and practising artist.  Her artworks convey the breadth of her experience and her position as a Māori woman in a European-dominated society.  She is a regular contributor to Te Ao Māori Collective and her work has been incorporated into several Contemporary Māori art group shows.  Watch her Native Affairs interview here.

This flag was designed by Zarahn Southon and is acrylic on wood 42cm x 30cm

Zarahn Southon is a figurative and realist painter of Tūwharetoa descent.  After completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the Manukau School of Visual Arts, he won a Contemporary Pacific Art Scholarship in 2005, which he used to fund a trip to Florence to study at the John Angel Academy. In 2007, he received a scholarship from Studio Escalier, a contemporary classical art centre in Paris.  Southon regards these periods of study in Italy and France as highly influential on his current practice.

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If you would like to check out the auctions on Trade Me, follow this link.