Selwyn Muru
New Zealand artist and broadcaster (1937–2024)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Selwyn Frederick Muru (6 September 1937 – 24 January 2024), also known as Herewini Murupaenga, was a New Zealand artist. Of Māori descent (Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī),[1] his life's work included painting, sculpture, journalism, broadcasting, directing, acting, set design, theatre, poetry, and whaikōrero.[2] Muru was awarded the Te Tohu Aroha mō Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu | Exemplary/Supreme Award in 1990 at the Creative New Zealand Te Waka Awards.[3]
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6 August 1937
- Whaikōrero
- broadcasting
- fine art
- performing arts
Selwyn Muru | |
|---|---|
Muru in 1966 | |
| Born | Selwyn Frederick Muru 6 August 1937 Te Hāpua, New Zealand |
| Died | 24 January 2024 (aged 86) Auckland, New Zealand |
| Known for |
|
| Notable work | Waharoa (1990) |
Biography
Muru was born in Te Hāpua, Northland in 1937. He was Māori and affiliated with the iwi, Te Aupōuri and Ngāti Kurī.[1][4] He was a self-taught artist, although he did receive some instruction from Kāterina Mataira while at Northland College.[4] He went on to attend Ardmore Teachers' College specialising in arts and crafts.[2][4] He taught at Matakana District High School and Huiarau Primary in Ruatāhuna. He became a part-time art tutor at Mount Eden Prison in 1962.[5]
After a solo exhibition and a feature article in Te Ao Hou, by 1964 Muru had become established as an artist.[4] In 1964, he worked on the John O’Shea (Pacific Films) feature film Runaway, where he was building sets and also had a small acting role.[5] He began his broadcasting career in 1966.[4]
An exhibition Muru curated in 1969, The Work of Maori Artists, was the first group show of contemporary Māori art at the National Art Gallery of New Zealand (now Te Papa).[4] Muru has said: "Māori art has always been contemporary."[6]
Muru, poet Hone Tuwhare and artist Para Matchitt founded the Māori Writers and Artists’ Association (Nga Puna Waihanga) in 1973.[2] In 1990, Muru was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[7]
Muru died in the Auckland suburb of Point Chevalier on 24 January 2024, at the age of 86.[8][9][10]
Broadcasting
In 1967, Muru was appointed assistant to the Head of Programmes, New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation.[5] In this role, he created Te Puna Wai Kōrero, 'a weekly current affairs programme in English on northern Māori issues'.[5] He began presenting in the early 1970s on Te Reo o Te Pipiwharauroa, weekly current affairs in the Māori language (replacing Ted Nia).[5]
The first Māori programme to air on prime-time television was Below Koha in 1982. Muru along with Aroaro Hond, Robert Puwhare, Mona Papali'i and Ernie Leonard were involved.[11]
Artwork
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A significant public sculpture by Muru is Waharoa (1990), an entrance gate to Aotea Square in Auckland. Represented are carvings of Tama-nui-te-rā (god of the sun), Tangaroa (god of the sea), Tāne-mahuta (god of the forest), Tāwhiri-mātea (god of the elements) and Whetū me te Marama (the crescent moon and stars).[12]
Muru's work with recycled timber in the 1980s has been described as a 'leitmotif' or recurrent theme amongst several Māori artists including Ralph Hotere, Para Matchitt and Bruce Stewart by art critic Rangihiroa Panaho. Panaho calls this a re-appropriation.[13]
Curator Nigel Borell displayed two of Muru's artworks in the 2022 survey of contemporary Māori art Toi Tū Toi Ora at Auckland Art Gallery – Resurrections of Te Whiti over Taranaki (1975–77) and Te Whiti and Tohu over Taranaki (1975–77), paintings that feature the mountain Taranaki and the Māori leaders Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi.[4]
The New Zealand Portrait Gallery held a retrospective exhibition entitled Selwyn Muru: A Life's Work for three months starting in November 2022.[14][15]
Collections that hold his work include Te Papa and Auckland Art Gallery.[6]
Exhibitions
Selected exhibitions:
- Ikon Gallery, Auckland (1963)[16]
- Contemporary New Zealand Art, Japan and South East Asia (1963)[16]
- New Zealand Māori Council exhibition, National Art Gallery, Wellington (1969)[16]
- Contemporary Maori Art, Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton (1976)[16]
- Kohia ko Taikaka Anake, National Art Gallery, Wellington (1990)[16]
- Te Waka Toi: Contemporary Maori Art, tour to the United States (1992)[16]
- Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, Auckland Art Gallery (5 December 2020 – 9 May 2021)[4]