{{Short description|New Zealand artist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Emily Karaka | honorific_suffix = | image = Emilykaraka1-copy.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Karaka in 2021 | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = | birth_date = 1952 | birth_place = Auckland | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | education = | alma_mater = | known_for = Painting | notable_works = | style = Abstract expressionism | movement = | spouse = | awards = | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = | module = }}
'''Emily Karaka''' (born Auckland in 1952), also known as '''Emare Karaka''', is a New Zealand artist of Māori (Ngāti Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngati Hine, Ngāpuhi) descent <ref name="Kirker">Kirker, Anne. ''New Zealand Women Artists'' Reed Methuen, 1986</ref><ref>Brownson, Ron. ''Art Toi: New Zealand Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki'' Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki, 2011</ref> Her work is recognised for "its expressive intensity, her use of high key colour, and her gritty address of political issues related to Māori land rights and the Treaty of Waitangi".<ref>{{cite web|title=Artists Shona Rapira Davies and Emily Karaka's interview for Te Papa|url=http://www.mch.govt.nz/waitangi-175/news-and-events/artists-shona-rapira-davies-and-emily-karakas-interview|website=Ministry for Culture and Heritage|access-date=14 June 2015}}</ref>
== Early and personal life == Karaka grew up in Glen Innes in Auckland in a family of five siblings. Her brother Dilworth Karaka was in the New Zealand band Herbs.<ref>{{Cite web|title=In conversation with Emily Karaka – Index|url=https://index-magazine.com/in-conversation-with-emily-karaka/|access-date=2021-01-25|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2012-09-25|title=Herbs honoured|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/east-bays-courier/7726541/Herbs-honoured|access-date=2021-01-25|website=Stuff|language=en}}</ref> Karaka herself brought her family up in Glen Innes and lives there still.<ref name=":0" />
== Career == A largely self-taught artist, Karaka credits many figures in New Zealand art as mentors, including Greer Twiss, Colin McCahon, Gretchen Albrecht, Tony Fomison, Arnold Manaaki Wilson, Philip Clairmont and Allan Maddox.<ref>{{cite web|title=Emily Karaka|url=https://www.fernergalleries.co.nz/default,1820.sm|website=Ferner Galleries|access-date=14 June 2015}}</ref><ref name="Gifford">{{cite web|last1=Gifford|first1=Adam|title=Finding touchstones|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11207994|website=New Zealand Herald|access-date=14 June 2015|date=22 February 2014}}</ref> In a 2014 interview she said:
<blockquote>Greer Twiss was my teacher at intermediate school, and I met Colin McCahon at Greer's house when I was 12. They became my kaitiaki. They steered me away from Tamaki College because they didn't consider the arts curriculum there was sufficient, and steered me to Auckland Girls' Grammar.
That was great because I had people like Liz Mountain [Elizabeth Ellis]. She'd just come out of training school so she had a lot of energy and the commitment to keep to your cultural landscape and develop it.<ref name='Gifford'/></blockquote>
Karaka is seen as part of the first generation of contemporary Māori artists and she is often placed alongside painters Robyn Kahukiwa and Kura Te Waru Rewiri in discussions of New Zealand art history.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Phillips|first1=Jock|title=ainting - Painting of identity|url=http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/painting/page-9|website=Te ara: The Online Encyclopedia of New Zealand|publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage|access-date=14 June 2015|date=4 November 2014}}</ref> She acknowledges Katarina Mataira, Selwyn Muru and Arnold Wilson as kaumātua (respected elders) who paved the way for the next generation of Māori artists.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Huhana|title=Taiāwhio: conversations with contemporary Māori artists|date=2002|publisher=Te Papa Press|others=Oriwa Solomon, Awhina Tamarapa, Megan Tamati-Quennell, John Walsh (eds.)|isbn=978-0-909010-86-7|location=Wellington [N.Z.]|pages=}}</ref>
==Recent exhibitions==
''Rāhui'', 29 April - 4 June 2021. Visions Gallery, Auckland.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Emily Karaka {{!}} 29 Apr - 4 Jun 2021|url=https://visions.art/exhibitions/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430224227if_/https://visions.art/exhibitions/76-emily-karaka-rahui/|archive-date=2021-04-30|access-date=2021-04-30|website=Visions|language=en-NZ}}</ref>
''Two Artists: Emily Karaka & Shona Rapira Davies'', Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2015. Curated by Megan Tamati-Quennell, this exhibition contrasted the work of these two senior female Māori artists and explored how their early work aligned with the 'Mana Wahine' movement; 'a movement that developed from the momentum of the feminist art and Māori protest movements of the 1970s'.<ref>{{cite web|title=Two Artists: Emily Karaka & Shona Rapira Davies|url=http://arts.tepapa.govt.nz/on-the-wall/two-artists-emily-karaka-and-shona-rapira-davies|website=Arts Nga Toi|publisher=Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa|access-date=14 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150615130600/http://arts.tepapa.govt.nz/on-the-wall/two-artists-emily-karaka-and-shona-rapira-davies|archive-date=15 June 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
''Five Māori Painters'', Auckland Art Gallery, 2014. Curated by Ngahiraka Mason, this exhibition brought together the work of senior artists Karaka, Robyn Kahukiwa, and Kura Te Waru Rewiri with artists from a younger generation, Saffron Te Ratana and Star Gossage.<ref>{{cite web|title=Five Māori Painters|url=http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/whats-on/events/2014/february/five-maori-painters|website=Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki|access-date=14 June 2015}}</ref>
Karaka had a work presented, ''Kingitanga ki Te Ao (They Will Throw Stones)'', (2020) at the 22nd Sydney Biennale.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Higgie|first=Jennifer|date=2020-05-27|title=A Digital Tour of the 22nd Biennale of Sydney|url=https://www.frieze.com/article/digital-tour-22nd-biennale-sydney|access-date=2022-02-03|website=Frieze|language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further information== *[http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/the-big-art-trip-series-one-episode-two-2001 The Big Art Trip Series 1 Episode 2] features Emily Karaka *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EHMTuy-8Bc Five Māori Painters: Emily Karaka] interview recorded by Auckland Art Gallery 2014 *[http://arts.tepapa.govt.nz/off-the-wall/357488/8863/media/emily-karaka-talks-about-her-work-em-the-treaties-em Emily Karaka talks about her 1984 work ''The Treaties''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150615105216/http://arts.tepapa.govt.nz/off-the-wall/357488/8863/media/emily-karaka-talks-about-her-work-em-the-treaties-em |date=15 June 2015 }} audio-recording from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa *[https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/standing-room-only/audio/2586727/five-maori-artists Interview with Ngahiraka Mason, curator of ''Five Māori Painters''] Standing Room Only, Radio New Zealand National, 2014 *[https://arts.tepapa.govt.nz/off-the-wall/8738/personal-and-political Personal and political] Shona Rapira Davies and Emily Karaka interviewed by curator Megan Tamati-Quennell *[http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Person/1226 Emily Karaka] in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
==External links== *{{Wikiquote-inline}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Karaka, Emily}} Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:Artists from Auckland Category:Ngāpuhi people Category:Ngāti Hine people Category:Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki people Category:20th-century New Zealand women artists Category:21st-century New Zealand women artists