Shannon Te Ao (born in
Sydney in 1978) is a
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
artist and writer of
Ngāti Tūwharetoa
Ngāti Tūwharetoa is an iwi descended from Ngātoro-i-rangi, the priest who navigated the Arawa canoe to New Zealand. The Tūwharetoa region extends from Te Awa o te Atua ( Tarawera River) at Matatā across the central plateau of the North Is ...
descent.
He won the 2016
Walters Prize.
Education
Te Ao completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) and a Graduate Diploma of Teaching at the
University of Auckland
, mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work
, established = 1883; years ago
, endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021)
, budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021)
, chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant
, vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
.
Walters Prize
Te Ao was the sole New Zealand artist selected for the 19th
Biennale of Sydney
The Biennale of Sydney is an international festival of contemporary art, held every two years in Sydney, Australia. It is a large and well-attended contemporary visual arts event in the country. Alongside the Venice and São Paulo biennales and ...
in 2014.
His video work ''two shoots that stretch far out'' (2013-2014) was shown at the
Art Gallery of New South Wales for the Biennale.
In 2015 the work was shown at
City Gallery Wellington
City Gallery Te Whare Toi is a public art gallery in Wellington, New Zealand.
History
City Gallery Te Whare Toi began its life as the Wellington City Art Gallery on 23 September 1980 in a former office block located at 65 Victoria Street, now ...
alongside drawings by
Susan Te Kahurangi King in the exhibition ''Susan Te Kahurangi King and Shannon Te Ao: From the One I Call My Own''.
In March 2016 Te Ao was announced as a finalist for the biennial Walters Prize (New Zealand's largest visual arts prize) for the work. For his presentation in the Walters Prize exhibition at
Auckland Art Gallery Te Ao showed ''two shoots that stretch far out'' in one room, and in a space leading in to the screening installed ''Okea ururoatia (never say die)'' (2016), made of living plants arranged on pallets and lit by hanging lights. He was announced as the winner on 30 September 2016; the award was judged by Doryun Chong.
Exhibitions
2013
*''Follow the Party of the Whale'',
The Blue Oyster Art Project Space
2014
*''Follow the Party of the Whale'',
Adam Art Gallery
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
* 19th Biennale of Sydney
*''Towards doing more'',
The Physics Room
The Physics Room is a non-commercial contemporary art gallery in Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South I ...
2015
*''Shannon Te Ao: A torch and a light (cover)'', Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts
*''Susan Te Kahurangi King and Shannon Te Ao: From the One I Call My Own'', City Gallery Wellington
2016
*''Shannon Te Ao: A torch and a light (cover)'', Hastings City Art Gallery
* Walters Prize Award,
Auckland Art Gallery
*''Shannon Te Ao: Untitled (malady)'', Robert Heald Gallery, Wellington
2017
*''Shannon Te Ao: Tēnei Ao Kawa Nei'',
Christchurch Art Gallery
The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, commonly known as the Christchurch Art Gallery, is the public art gallery of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It has its own substantial art collection and also presents a programme of New ...
*''Shannon Te Ao: Untitled (McCahon House Studies)'', City Gallery Wellington
* ''te huka o te tai'',
Artspace Artspace may refer to:
* Artspace (website), an online marketplace based in New York City
* Artspace, New Haven, an art gallery in downtown New Haven, Connecticut
* Artspace Mackay, Mackay, Queensland, Australia
* Artspace NZ, a visual arts cent ...
, Auckland
*''Shannon Te Ao: With the sun aglow, I have my pensive moods'',
Edinburgh Art Festival
The Edinburgh Art Festival is an annual visual arts festival, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, during August and coincides with the Edinburgh International and Fringe festivals. The Art Festival was established in 2004, and receives public funding fr ...
2018
* ''Shannon Te Ao: my life as a tunnel'',
The Dowse Art Museum
The Dowse Art Museum is a municipal art gallery in Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
Opening in 1971 in the Lower Hutt CBD, The Dowse occupies a stand-alone building adjacent to other municipal facilities. The building was completely remodelled in 2 ...
Further information
Interviews
Five Minutes With Shannon Te Ao The Brag, 2014
Shannon Te Ao interviewed by Mark Amery Circuit, 23 July 2015
Shannon Te Ao interviewed by Kim Hill Saturday Morning programme,
RNZ, 1 October 2016
Shannon Te Ao interviewed by Nathan Pohio ''Bulletin'', Christchurch Art Gallery, February 2017
Shannon Te Ao interviewed by Lynn Freeman Standing Room Only,
RNZ, 2 July 2017
Reviews
*
Courtney Johnston
Courtney Johnston (born ) is a New Zealand museum professional, a national radio correspondent, and the chief executive of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
Early life and education
Born in about 1979, Johnston grew up on dairy farm ...
Review of ''Susan Te Kahurangi King and Shannon Te Ao: From the One I Call My Own'' Nine to Noon programme,
RNZ, 1 July 2015
*Mark Amer
Review of ''Susan Te Kahurangi King and Shannon Te Ao: From the One I Call My Own'' NZ Listener, 2 July 2015
* John Hurrell
A New Shannon Te Ao Video EyeContact, 15 July 2015
* Jessica Hubbar
Searching for a Nonverbal Connection EyeContact, 7 October 2015
* Megan Dunn
The Abode of Indifference Circuit, 11 October 2015
* John Hurrell
More Is Less: The Walters Prize 2016 EyeContact, 7 August 2016
* Tim Cornwall
Edinburgh Art Festival: artists look to Maori traditions, 19th-century botany and jellyfish The Art Newspaper
''The Art Newspaper'' is a monthly print publication, with daily updates online, founded in 1990 and based in London and New York City. It covers news of the visual arts as they are affected by international politics and economics, developments ...
, 25 July 2017
* Laura Cumming
Edinburgh art festival review – the dark side of Robert Burns The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
, 30 July 2017.
*En Liang Khon
Critic’s Guide: Edinburgh ''Frieze'', 1 August 2017
* Andrew Cliffor
Shannon Te Ao: With the sun aglow, I have my pensive moods Contemporary Hum, 4 December 2017
* Matariki Williams
The Singing Word: On Shannon Te Ao’s my life as a tunnel The Pantograph Punch, 22 June 2018
* Alex Davidson
Critic's pick: Shannon Te Ao Artforum, July 2018
* Fi Churchman
Future Greats: Shannon Te Ao Art Review Asia, Summer 2018
Books
An artist book, ''I can press my face up against the glass'', was published by The Physics Room in 2014. It features essays by
Tina Barton
Christina Joy Barton (born 1958), known as Tina Barton, is a New Zealand art historian, curator and gallery director. She is currently director of the Adam Art Gallery.
Education
Barton completed a Masters of Art in art history at the Universi ...
, Caterina Riva and Anna-Marie White.
A chapter on Te Ao's work is included in New Zealand writer Anthony Byrt's 2016 book ''This Model World: Travels to the Edge of Contemporary Art''. A still from his 2014 work ''two shoots that stretch far out'' was used for the cover of the book.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Te Ao, Shannon
1978 births
New Zealand contemporary artists
Living people
New Zealand Māori artists
Ngāti Tūwharetoa people
University of Auckland alumni