A Ngati Porou portraitist is calling for people with Maori tattoos on their faces to take part in her latest art series, which aims to illustrate the modern face of tangata whenua for future generations to see.
Auckland painter Sofia Minson, who's won numerous art awards including the Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Award, wants to hear from people anywhere in Aotearoa.
Artist Sofia Minson with one of her pieces in the background. Photo: RNZ / SUPPLIED
She says while paintings by Charles F. Goldie and Gottfried Lindauer had an air of romance to them, she wants her portraits to show what tangata whenua really look like.
In particular, she wants to show how different Maori look nowadays.
Ms Minson says she is of Ngati Porou, Swedish, English and Irish descent, or what's described as a "fruit salad", so "not all people look like me". But she wants to show the diversity and mana of modern day tangata whenua.
Ms Minson says the portrait won't be just a click of a camera. Instead she says she will talk to the individual first to find out about their connection to their elders or to their land.
