Lisa Reihana
New Zealand b.1964
Dandy (from ‘Digital Marae’ series) 2007
Digital colour print on crystal flex paper on aluminium ed. 2/5
200 x 120cm
Purchased 2008 with funds from the Estate of Vincent Stack through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation

Lisa Reihana

Dandy (from ‘Digital Marae’ series) 2007

Lisa Reihana has played a pioneering role in the development of film and multimedia art in New Zealand. The ‘Digital Marae’ series is an ongoing project that she began in 2001, in which she reworks Maori lore and oral history. A strong component of Reihana’s practice is to convey the importance of matriarchy within Maori culture. However, in her most recent series of photographs, Reihana tackles male representations and, in particular, seeks to redress the visibility of takataapui, the Maori cross-gender community. These intriguing portraits present male Maori ancestors in various guises and associations. They range from the staunch masculinity of the demigod Maui who surfs a silver wave, to the androgynous figure of Diva, from whose hand a tui bird flutters. With Dandy, Reihana imagines first encounters between Maori and the Europeans as they alighted from their ships.