“ 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 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 solo and group exhibitions include;

    2012
  • Siamani Samoa, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, Australia
  • Te Ara o Kôpû Transit of Venus, Gisborne Museum, Gisborne, Aotearoa, NZ
  • VoltaNY, First Contact, New York, USA
  • First Contact, NZ International Art Festival at Te Papa, Wellington, Aotearoa, NZ
  • Edge of Elsewhere, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, Australia

    • 2011

  • Nui Pasifik Warrior, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney, Australia;
  • Oceania, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, Aotearoa, NZ
  • This is not a Vitrine_This is an Ocean Exhibition, Waikato Museum, Hamilton, Aotearoa, 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

    • 2010

  • 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

    • 2009

  • The British Museum Collection, London, UK
  • Art in the Contemporary Pacific - The Great Journey, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC

    • 2008

  • Le Folauga, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC

    • 2007

  • Dateline, NBK Gallery, Berlin, Germany
  • Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Permanent Collection, Wellington, Aotearoa, NZ
  • News from Islands, Campbelltown Art Centre, Sydney, Australia
  • Tangata o le Moana, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, Aotearoa, NZ (2007-2017)
  • Pasifika Styles, University of Cambridge Museum, Cambridge, UK (2006 -2008);

Latest News

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS:

We'd love for you to visit Michel's FACEBOOK and YOUTUBE channel to view recent exhibitions and projects and as always feel free to like or share these links with others in your networks, or follow Michel on @micheltuffery, you can access these direct links by scrolling to the end of this page including our Terms and Conditions information for those that are interested in purchasing Michel's currently available artworks. We do welcome enquiries from anywhere in the world and we are more than happy to provide you with high resolution images of any artwork on request.

SIAMANI SAMOA INSTALLATION at Pulima Art Festival, Taipei, Taiwan, 7 -16 December 2012.

SIAMANI SAMOA INSTALLATION at the Leonhard Adam Collection of International Indigenous Culture, the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, 15 November 2012 - 24 February 2013.

NGA KINA: Official Opening 20th November 2012
Commissioned by Wellington Sculpture Trust, Nga Kina is the 25th public sculpture the Trust has realised for the city of Wellington. Nine hyper sized Kina forms varying in scale from 2 -3 metres in diameter are now magnificently installed partially below the waterline creating a natural interplay with local tidal movements at Kumutoto on Wellington's waterfront. In part it's context acknowledges the history and physical geography of the area although not visible or perhaps now not known, including the Kumutoto stream which flowed from Woodward Street to the sea and the location of the historical, but now built over, Kumutoto Pa. The use of the Kina shell forms can also be interpreted as a reference to a midden, a shell mound that may have existed at one time as part of Kumutoto Pa. Middens are archeological features that contain the debris of human activity. They are a trace to the people and material culture that at one time existed. Its significance in indigenous terms, resides in the midden’s ability to provide tangible evidence of prior occupation. Tuffery’s work for the Wellington Sculpture Trust in this context, in both form and intent, provides a strong and conscious link to the Mana whenua of Wellington and pays homage to both their history and their significance, and the importance of their continued presence in the city as it evolves and reshapes.

It is with our sincerest gratitude that we acknowledge the support in realizing Nga Kina to the following organisations and persons; Wellington Sculpture Trust, Wellington City Council, Wellington Waterfront, Dunning Thornton Consultants, Architecture FCA, GRCNZ, ECC Lighting, A J Beck Electrical, Kiwicontractors, Collins Lifting and a very special acknowledgement to Dayton Taylor, Darren Foster, Megan Tamati-Quennell, the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust and the vast number of Private investors, i le ava ma le faa'aloalo tele lava.

CURRENT PUBLICATIONS FEATURING MICHEL:
2012:
CANTERBURY RUGBY FOOTBALL EXPERIENCE, Mike Coker, Canterbury Rugby Football Experience Ltd, NZ
THE ATLANTIC WORLD IN THE ANTIPODES, Edited by Kate Fullagar, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK
100 STORIES FROM THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM, UNSW Press, Sydney, Australia
ONCE WERE PACIFIC - MAORI CONNECTIONS TO OCEANIA, Dr Alice Te Punga Somerville, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, USA
NEW ZEALAND:A HISTORY IN 100 OBJECTS, Linda Tyler, Harper Collins Publishers, NZ
TANGATA O LE MOANA:NEW ZEALAND AND THE PEOPLE OF THE PACIFIC, Te Papa Press, NZ

2011:
PACIFIC ART IN DETAIL, Dr Jenny Newell, The British Museum Press, UK

2010:
OCEANIA, Dr Elisabetta Gnecchi Ruscone, Mondadori Electa S.p.a. Italy
THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC - Vol 22/No.2, University of Hawai'i Press, USA