Hiria Anderson

Hiria Anderson is a New Zealand artist whose work focuses on Māori culture in the 21st century. In 2018 she was awarded the New Zealand Paint and Printmaking award and her work has been exhibited at the Auckland Art Gallery, Te Tuhi and Tim Melville Gallery.

Biography Anderson was born in 1974 within the King Country, New Zealand. She grew up at her grandparents home in Ōtorohanga, next to the wharenui her grandfather built when she was born. Her grandfather was a carver and her grandmother was a weaver, they played an influence on Anderson's developing art practice. Anderson attended Queen Victoria School, a historic girls' boarding school for Māori in Parnell, Auckland.

She studied at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, graduating with a Diploma of Visual Arts in 1998. During this time, Anderson was an active member of Ngā Puna Waihanga o Tainui, the Māori Artists and Writers' Society of Tainui, and trained under artist James Ormsby.

She is currently based in her whānau homestead in Ōtorohanga, where she produces art from a small studio. Anderson has been praised for her use of chiaroscuro, and her framing of everyday objects;

Exhibitions A Girl Like Me, 2009 A Painter on Turongo Street, 2017 Ahi Kā, 2019 Under the Radar with Margaret Aull, 2020 Hohou Te Rongo: A Strategy towards Health & Wellbeing, 2021