“ Tuffery’s journey is an open and expansive one, its wonder and revelations shared generously, as a gift, in his art. It illuminates the sea around him, showing us aspects of our world, our society and our lives that would otherwise remain unseen. ”
Tim Walker, Director, TheNewDowse, New Zealand
Welcome to micheltuffery.co.nz
A New Zealand based artist of Samoan, Rarotongan and Tahitian heritage, Michel Tuffery M.N.Z.M on paper and by reputation is one of the seminal role players for visibility of Contemporary Pacific Island art locally and beyond the wider Pacific. His creative output is expansive as he is adept at all arts media, printing, painting and sculpting, and works collaboratively with technicians and other art practitioners to realise his performance and installation projects, requiring moving image, light and sound. His concerns are measured and politicised around the conservation of the environment and shaped by his Pacific Island ancestry.
In 2008 Michel was honoured with becoming a Member of the New Zealand Merit of Order in the Queens Birthday Honours List for services to the Arts.
Tuffery’s art features in major Public and Private collections globally. Selected recent National and International Arts Residencies, Public Commissions, Awards and his extensive Solo and Group exhibitions include;
-
2011
- Nui Pasifik Warrior, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney, Australia;
- Oceania, City Gallery Wellington, NZ
- This is not a Vitrine_This is an Ocean Exhibition, Waikato Museum, Hamilton, NZ
- First Contact, ANZ Building, Chifley Square, Sydney, Australia
- Povi Vasa, Edge of Elsewhere, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, Australia;
- First Contact Ambient, Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney, Australia
- Celebrating Connections, Marks Garage, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- Samoan Art: Urban, de Young Museum, San Francisco, USA
- Tiaho - Contemporary Photography from Oceania, The Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico
- Nui Pasifik - Urban Art from the Pacific Rim, Gorman University Art Gallery, San Francisco, USA
- Manuia - Contemporary Cook Island Art, The American Indian House Gallery, New York, USA
- Indigenous Peoples: Development with Culture and Identity, United Nations, New York, USA
- The British Museum Collection, London, UK
- Art in the Contemporary Pacific - The Great Journey, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan, ROC
- Le Folauga, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan, ROC
- Dateline, NBK Gallery, Berlin, Germany
- Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Permanent Collection, Wellington, NZ
- News from Islands, Campbelltown Art Centre, Sydney, Australia
- Tangata o le Moana, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, NZ (2007-2017)
- Pasifika Styles, University of Cambridge Museum, Cambridge, UK (2006 -2008);
2010
2009
2008
2007
Latest News
Current and Upcoming Exhibitions and Projects:
12 November 2011 - 19 February 2012 (Stage 2, Aotearoa New Zealand)
SIAMANI SAMOA, Pataka Museum of Arts and Culture
http://www.pataka.org.nz
24 September - 4 December 2011
NIU WARRIOR, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney, Australia
http://www.casulapowerhouse.com/exhibitions/niu-warrior.aspx
17 - 23 September 2011
LAKAPI (fifteen aside) exhibition opens at the New Zealand High Commission, Apia, Samoa
http://www.samoaobserver.ws/
17 - 22 September 2011 (Stage 1, Samoa)
SIAMANI SAMOA, is an international touring exhibition scheduled throughout 2011 - 2014 and opens at Le Manumea Hotel, Apia, Samoa this project has been in developement over several years of extensive research undertaken by Michel in Germany, Samoa and New Zealand. This is the first type of large scale multi media installation art in public spaces with live performances with the Royal Samoa Police band and Le Taupou Manaia Dance Group in Samoa and we acknowledge the full support of stage 1 of this project by Creative New Zealand.
17 September 2011
LAKAPI (fifteen aside) exhibition opens at Le Manumea Hotel, Apia, Samoa
http://www.samoaobserver.ws/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id...
7 September - 15 October 2011
LAKAPI (fifteen aside) exhibition opens at Solander Gallery, Wellington
http://www.solandergallery.co.nz
19 - 21 August 2011
INDIGENOUS PRESENCE IN CIVIC SPACES, public panel discussion at Cairns International Arts Fair (CIAF) facilitated by Robyn Daw, Arts Queensland and convened by Daniel Browning, other panelists included Cr Val Schier, Dr Gini Lee, Mr Kevin O’Brien and Associate Professor Judy Watson.
http://www.artplace.arts.qld.gov.au
http://www.ciaf.com.au
6 August – 6 November 2011
OCEANIA, City Gallery Wellington and The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa looks at the ‘Oceanic experience’ and how the natural and social environment has shaped the art and artists that have come out of the region over the last century.
http://www.citygallery.org.nz
11 - 14 March 2011 (Womadelaide) and 18 - 21 March 2011(Womad NZ)
WELLINGTON based Rhombus live shows have evolved to include special guest appearances with Michel, who creates live visual projection and dance based narratives sync'd with other elements of Rhombus performances takes their live shows to a new level of experience.
http://womad.co.nz/artists.htm
http://www.youtube.com/user/MichelTuffery?ob=5#p/u/0/6i7J1u0-NCU
Previous gigs with...
THE DREAMING FESTIVAL, June 2010
Rhombus,Tuffery and the Rako Dancers (Fiji)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GXnRoAQVOw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xpD1Vk6F2c
PINATA, March 2009
The Fourth Annual Mau Forum, Auckland, New Zealand
http://vimeo.com/3754330
8 - 30 January 2011
FIRST CONTACT multi-media architectural projection artwork canvasses the 12 story high ANZ Building at Chifley Plaza opens Sydney Festival - Festival First Night. First Contact follows the Tahitian ambassador Tupaia and the scientists and artists who accompanied Captain James Cook’s on his three epic voyages, linking them with his own distinctive artwork and 21st century visual and sound bytes including live performances by Sydney's Echoes of Polynesia, DJ Nomad and MC Rayjah45. First Contact was successfully realised with the support of Creative New Zealand.
http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2011/All-Events/First-Contact-Michel-Tu...
15 January - 30 April 2011
POVI VASA, Edge of Elsewhere is an exhibition series co-curated by Campbelltown Arts Centre and Gallery 4A. Contemporary artists from Australia, Asia and the Pacific are commissioned to create new works that respond to and engage the diverse communities of Sydney. It is the flagship contemporary art project of Sydney Festival’s program over three consecutive years in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/.../Edge-of-Elsewhere-Campbelltown
http://www.4a.com.au/
http://www.youtube.com/user/MichelTuffery?ob=5#p/u/0/6i7J1u0-NCU
November 2010
CREATIVE NEW ZEALAND announces the 5 recipients for the 2010 Arts Pasifika Awards last night at the St James Theatre in Wellington where Michel was awarded the Contemporary Pacific Artist’s Award.
http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/who_we_are/news/articletype/articleview/ar...
Publications featuring Michel are:
2011: PACIFIC ART IN DETAIL, Dr Jenny Newell, The British Museum Press, London
http://www.museumpublicity.com/.../pacific-art-in-detail-from-the-britis...
http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/TePapaPress/.../Pages/PacificArtinDetail.aspx
2010: OCEANIA, Dr Elisabetta Gnecchi Ruscone, Mondadori Electa S.p.a. Italy
http://www.electaweb.com/catalogo/eseguiRicerca?tipo=&tipovis=&keyword=o...
2010: THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC Journal Vol 22. University of Hawaii Press features editorials on the writings of Professor Albert Wendt and Michel's art spanning their respective professional careers to date. http://uphjournals.wordpress.com/catergory/the-contemporary-pacific/
