NEPHI TUPAEA

THE EFFEMINATE GAZE

*Irawhiti*, 2023
"*An androgynous figure representing the crossing of gender*"
Acrylic paint on canvas, 610mm x 760mm, SOLD

*Golden Queen*, 2023
"*Self-portrait. Am I naked or am I fully clothed?*".
Acrylic paint on canvas, 1520mm x 1210mm, SOLD

*Tāne / Wāhine*, 2023
"*An exploration into the duality of masculine and feminine energies of mankind*"
Acrylic paint on canvas, 760mm x 760mm, by enquiry

*The Book,* 2023
"*The intervening with Tīpuna, stepping into the veil presented in the form of a vision*"
Acrylic paint on canvas, 1020mm x 760mm, SOLD

*Eve in Black Beauty*, 2022
"*Pre-colonial baptism offering my acceptance in the presence of the creator*"
Acrylic paint on canvas, 1000mm x 1000mm, by enquiry.

*If The Shoe Fits*, 2023
"*Conversation of the relationship between Rangi and Papa. The figure reposes naked, unabashed. Resplendent and empowered. One glass slipper*?".
Acrylic paint on canvas, 1210mm x 910mm, SOLD

*The Fresh Series*, floral adornment in collaboration with Tamaryn Mikayla.

NEPHI
TUPAEA
//
BIO

Nephi Tupaea, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Tiipa, Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, Ngāti Kahungunu, is a multi-media artist and long-standing member of the artist collective Pacific Sisters and Iwi Toi Ngāti Kahungunu. Renowned for her creative dance performances, installations, body adornment, spoken word, fibre activation and innovative costume designs, Nephi’s art practice is guided through tupuna intervention, where tikanga creates new conversations and develops indigenous symbols and images.

Nephi has exhibited works throughout Aotearoa (New Zealand) and internationally, which include the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Toimairangi – Te Wānanga o Aotearoa New Zealand and Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) Austrialia, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Carriageworks Arts Centre, the Biennale of Sydney Australia.

Nephi is a graduate of Toimairangi, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa with a Bachelor of Māori Art, Maunga Kura Toi. Born 1971, Hastings, New Zealand.

The Effeminate Gaze, is the first solo show of Nephi Tupaea, wāhine, Māori, takatāpui, artist. One who is often the pillar to others, we get to see Nephi in full flight. Wings stretched out wide like the kāhu, eyes glinting with sharpened focus, she is ready to stand amidst her own work alone.

Based on the colourfulness of people, The Effeminate Gaze celebrates the diversity in life, embracing all without over prescription or labelling. It is about being true to yourself whatever that looks like. Nephi says “We compartmentalise people - put each other into boxes. I’m already in a box - I don’t want to be further compartmentalised”.

Recognising that people have paved the way to make it easier and safer for her and all Takatāpui, Nephi is taking the next step of looking at herself in the present. With a long history as a creative, there is a solidness in the foundation she has created. Her solo show ask of herself…

“What is me now, what is me in the future?”.

Nephi has nicknamed herself The Giraffe. It’s her way of not taking all that encompass her too seriously. When you envision a Giraffe, it is towering, gliding along with leggy steps, so a most fitting name for someone who is primed and ready to glide into their future with head held high.

This show is a homage to those that have walked this journey with Nephi - kaiako, collectives, loves, friends, allies. It is also a blast of refracted light against the darkness and those that have challenged her. Nephi is a colonial child who purely, just by existing, has had prejudice and hate thrust upon her. But in her trauma is not where Nephi sits, she does not give light to the hate. Instead, she surrounds herself with vividness and colour, both metaphorically and physically.

Her use of kōwhaiwhai on the canvas connects her to Te ao Māori, continually strengthened with every stoke painted, that becomes meditative and spiritual, with spirituality deconstructing colonial narratives.

Clearing room to build fresh stories and taking kōwhaiwhai to its origins within manakitaanga, gives us love, security and sanctuary which is what we see in Nephi’s paintings. These are a true embodiment of the person that is Nephi. Her paintings are visually bright, bold and colourful, and in spirit they are also her, evoking feelings of resilience, hope and faith for the future.