Check your walls for ‘incredibly generous’ late artist’s works

Tuesday, 9 June 2026

The curators of a new exhibition of works by the celebrated late Kiwi artist Robyn Kahukiwa are trying to track down several paintings that may be hung in private homes around New Zealand.

The celebrated Kiwi artist Robyn Kahukiwa was an “incredibly generous” person, one of the curators who is searching for her missing artworks says.

And therein lies the issue: Kahukiwa — who died last year following a prolific five-decade career — gifted many of her hundreds of artworks to “whānau, friends, collaborators and people she admired,” Chloe Cull, Christchurch Art Gallery’s Pouarataki Curator Māori says.

Title unknown, c. 1960s, by Robyn Kahukiwa.

Cull and her colleagues are on a mission to find some Kahukiwa paintings that have not been seen in public for decades, to feature in a new exhibition, My Ancestors Are Always With Me, opening at the gallery in February.

Mother and Child, 1972, by Robyn Kahukiwa, is being sought by the curators of a new exhibition in Christchurch.

For what will be the most comprehensive exhibition ever staged of Kahukiwa’s work, the curators are specifically looking for the following works:

Blue Mother and Child, 1973
Guitar Player, 1975

Mother and Child with Green Towel, 1972, by Robyn Kahukiwa, is another work by the artist that has not been seen for decades.

Mother and Child with Green Towel, 1972
Maunga, 1997
Mother and Child, 1972

Title unknown, c. 1960s
Ko Hikurangi te Maunga, Ko Waiapu te Awa, Ko Ngāti Porou te Iwi, 1985
Waka, 1997
Unidentified Māori Woman #4, 1990
He Kakano Rangatira, 1994
Family Group, 1973
Untitled Family Scene, 1975

“My Ancestors Are Always With Me will be an exhibition that celebrates the breadth of Robyn Kahukiwa’s extraordinary career,” Cull says.

One of her generation’s leading artists, Kahukiwa worked across many media, including painting, drawing, sculpture and print-making, examining topics including whakapapa and tikanga Māori, colonisation and motherhood.

She exhibited around the world and was also an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books.

“We want audiences to see the beloved works that they know well from books and public collections, alongside lesser-known works that might not have been seen by the public for many decades, if at all.”

The curators hope to include “some surprises” for visitors familiar with Kahukiwa’s work, Cull says.

“Robyn Kahukiwa made hundreds of artworks during her decades-long career. Many of these were sold to private collectors through commercial galleries, but interestingly, many were also gifted,” Cull says.

These works could be in private homes around the country, perhaps being cared for by “people that may have known the artist and perhaps have been handed down within families,” Cull says.

If you know the whereabouts of any missing Kahukiwa works, email info@christchurchartgallery.org.nz or send a private message via Christchurch Art Gallery’s Facebook or Instagram pages.