Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award 2025 - Exhibition

Open 27 February - 28 June 2026

Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi Gallery is the latest museum to have the honour of exhibiting the Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award 2025. This exhibition displays the finalists of the Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award, a biennial national competition where emerging Māori artists create portraits of their tūpuna (ancestors). The awards and subsequent nationwide travelling exhibition showcase the talent and expertise of emerging Māori artists through works created with a wide variety of visual artistic mediums.

Exhibition Background

The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award was launched in August of 2020 prior to the inaugural competition and award being presented in 2021.

The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Awards are hosted, administrated, and toured by the New Zealand Portraiture Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata. The award was developed by NZPG in collaboration with the Office of the Kiingitanga in honour of Kiingi Tuheitia.  

The competition provides an opportunity to exhibit the talent of emerging Māori artists throughout the country, as well as honouring and celebrating artists tūpuna and their stories.