Painting with sediment deposits collected from her ancestral stream a few hundred metres from her Piha home, Charlotte Graham finds inspiration and connection in the process of creation.
During a walk after cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023, the land offered up something unexpected. “With the mass devastation of the surrounding whenua, it was as though each sediment hue had been thrust up separately to reflect and reveal a colourful cloak,” Charlotte says. “Placing my hands in natural materials from Papatūānuku is a deeply connective, sensual experience that instinctively soothes my central nervous system.”
Her visits to this area are daily as she gathers material to paint; painting, in turn, provides a way of grounding and
expressing herself. Charlotte is a prolific painter who has worked with a range of mediums over her 29-year career as a celebrated Māori artist. As a child, she remembers designing entire villages in the sand, and finger painting. “It was a way to be free. In this world, I was able to lay down anything unwanted, surrendering myself fully in art-making experiences.”
Charlotte was part of the first cohort to complete the four-year Bachelor of Māori Visual Arts at Massey University with Robert Jahnke, Shane Cotton and Kura Te Waru-Rewiri. Often politically motivated, her work primarily focuses on issues related to connection with the land. She once described the fire she felt over the foreshore and seabed issues and spoke of channelling that with her paintbrush.
“Art allows us to speak, to educate, to transform, to change; art can offer up a viewpoint. My constant over the years of making works is that they are around land and people, whakapapa … Looking back, honouring the past, moving forward. The future is about connection to the environment and to each other.”
Her work has considered issues such as Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the acidification of the seas from dairy farming, and Kauri dieback. Perhaps one of her most well-known installations was Te Waiora, a huge temporary artwork of painted water droplets installed in the Britomart precinct over the summer of 2018/2019. Charlotte often talks of her desire to express connectivity with the work; in this installation water became the obvious solution, an element that connects us all.
Her latest body of work is intricately connected to a wider 10-year project, growing gourds — a task in which Charlotte finds daily inspiration. Her dedication to this project connects her to water each morning as she draws it from the stream to nourish the crop, while the act of growing grounds her to moon cycles and connects her to the whenua, her iwi, and the wider community. It is this relationship with her environment and her ancestors she depicts through hue and texture; she speaks of her inspiration flowing from the colours of the trees and the gourds, and the shimmering waters of the stream.
“The first stages of layered paint begin with smearing whenua pigment across the surface. It’s at this time that I experience a feeling of freedom. It’s here that the imagery reveals itself and the painting can be seen,” she explains. “At this point, it’s as though I am the dappled light, I am the bodied water, I am the gourd, I am the tree. In the mass of it all, I am uncloaked and feel light. I term it my jump time, in order to be unencumbered, one must jump. I have learnt to push past experiences to reclaim myself and be grounded in the moment. The act of painting allows my mind to free itself from clutter so that I can see my world.”
Her work is characterised by pastel colour palettes, rich textures, and an intuitive understanding of her environment. She blends abstraction with figuration, often incorporating symbols and references from Māori culture, such as patterns inspired by weaving and carving, to communicate both personal and collective histories. Her art prompts reflection on the delicate balance between human activity and the preservation of the natural world, urging a renewed respect for the environment rooted in both Māori tikanga (custom) and contemporary ecological concerns.
Through her innovative approach, Charlotte continues to be a vital voice in New Zealand’s contemporary art scene, using her work to foster a deeper understanding of Māori culture, environmental stewardship, and the ongoing
relationship between people and place. Charlotte is represented by Artbay Gallery in Queenstown, where she will hold her next solo show from 15 April to 6 May 2025.
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