Maori artist Lisa Reihana challenges herself, again, with her latest photographic study. The series she created might be nude, but it’s not about sex.

INTERVIEWING Lisa Reihana is like peeling away layers from an onion. And peeling away layers is exactly what the contemporary artist is doing in her latest work – a photographic study that includes two nude models, a blonde and a brunette, standing in a desert-like mystical landscape that could be right out of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
Reihana says while the models are naked, the work is not about the nudity. And it might seem unusual that she used Caucasian - not Maori - models, but that was the idea.
“I remember talking with David Teplitzky the curator and one of the things he said was [given that this is an international exhibition] with the nudes you strip away the cultural references. You don’t get pigeonholed into an indigenous culture. It was that idea of stripping something away.
“It’s not pornography or anything. I’ve seen some rough stuff and this is nothing in comparison.”
Reihana’s mother, Lesley Ann, immigrated to New Zealand from England after WWII, and her father – George, or Huri-Waka, - is Maori from “the far north”.
“As much as I’m part-Maori, I’m part English.”
The Reihana series of four photographs, called Pelt in the name of stripping something away, was a technical challenge, given that the pale background is tough to print. The snowy background was inspired by a New Zealand mountain range, seen when a friend got married. The tree to the side was inspired by the Maori tradition of wearing a native bush on one’s head at a tangi to pay respect to whoever had died.
Reihana’s humility – despite her art world success - intersperses the interview. It’s not like speaking to a well-known artist at all. “My mum says that,” she laughs.
Ask her to explain one of her more important accolades and she’ll say Te Ara a Hine, an installation at Te Papa until the middle of next year. That’s also about women and their strength – mana, and importance. Coming from a family of four girls, women are important in her family.
“I love my sisters,” Reihana says. “They crack me up. They really do. When we get together we are so loud. We have such a good time.”
The humanity is Reihana’s defining feature, and meeting people is one of the things she loves about being an artist. She likens the spontaneity of meeting people to magic.
“A great conversation can make you really high, really happy. I think it’s underrated.”
Even as a school girl the storytellers who spoke to the class would unlock her imagination and desire to create. Now an adult, she likes to appeal to all, even non-creative types. Bizarrely – you think it’d all be old hat by now – but already she’s slightly nervous about how people will take her new work.
Lisa Reihana’s Camarillo, one of more than 100 works at roundabout, City Gallery, September 25-January 16.