Born in Dunedin in 1971 to a Chinese father and Ngāi Tahu mother, it is not surprising that his whakapapa and strong sense of his Ngāi Tahu heritage, has grounded him in the cultural and physical local landscape, the subject of many of his paintings.

His Chinese heritage has had equal influence and is as interwoven within his work as it is within him as an individual.

In 2016 she was named a Knight (Chevalier) in the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres) by the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls and in this years Queens Birthday Honours was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to photography.

Most well-known for his mixed-media sculptures, his work has been included in many contemporary Māori art exhibitions and in recent times he has taken on a number of public commissions including the Te Ao Mārama carving at Te Papa Tongarewa and the ‘Tuhituhi Whenua’ mural at Te Hononga: Christchurch Civic Building.

Whakapapa, whenua, mana, taonga and whānau are at the heart of his creative practice and guide his visual expression of ‘Ngāitahutanga’.

In 2015 they were commissioned to create 13 Whāriki patterned paving stones as one of the anchor projects for the Christchurch Recovery Plan. Ngā Whāriki Manaaki, depicts the progression of a traditional pōwhiri using the patterns traditionally used for weaving floor mats and creating templates that could be laid using coloured paving stones.

One of only four Ngāi Tahu to be accepted into the prestigious NZ Māori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua, Fayne has been commissioned to work on a range of projects from wharenui to public art pieces over a career spanning more than 30 years.

In a career spanning over 30 years Lonnie has built an international reputation having been awarded a number of residencies and exhibiting around the globe. In recent times she has been engaged in a number of large scale public commissions, most recently the Justice and Emergency Precinct in Christchurch. She was the first female recipient of the MacMillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies residency at the University of Canterbury and the first International Indigenous Art Residency at the Banff Art Centre in Canada. In 2015 Lonnie was awarded the Creative New Zealand Pasifika Contemporary Artist Award.

In 2016 Nathan was nominated for a Walters Prize – New Zealand’s most prestigious of art honours for his work Raise the anchor, unfurl the sails, set course to the centre of an ever setting sun! – a reproduction of a photograph recording the visit of the British Governor General and his wife, Lord and Lady Plunket, to Tuahiwi in 1905.

And it was from there he was invited to exhibit at documenta 14, one of the world’s largest and most highly regarded contemporary art exhibitions, held just once every five years. This documentary follows Nathan and his work to the exhibition opening in Athens where his work featured in the entrance to the National Museum of Contemporary Art, EMST.

Over a career spanning 20 years she has built a reputation that sees her work in national public galleries and collections such as the third Auckland Triennial, City Gallery Wellington, Auckland Museum, Dowse Art Museum and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.