Three Māori artists finalists for Walters prize

Considered by many to be Aotearoa's top arts accolade, this is the first year the Walters Prize has featured so many Māori artists.

Auckland Art Gallery Director Rhana Devenport says the Walters Prize 2016 presents today’s most accomplished New Zealand artists.

"The Walters Prize is the Gallery’s biennnial opportunity to draw attention to the power and ingenuity of contemporary art practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. Through a rigorous selection process four artists have been nominated for exceptional artworks that pushed the boundaries of art making in 2014 and 2015. The Walters Prize 2016 is fascinating in its focus on lens-based and moving image works that will offer captivating experiences," she says.

The finalists are:

• Joyce Campbell, Flightdream, 2015, exhibited at: Two Rooms, Auckland, 24 September to 24 October 2015
• Nathan Pohio (Ngāti Wheke, Ngāi Tūāhuriri), Raise the anchor, unfurl the sails, set course to the centre of an ever setting sun!, 2015, exhibited at SCAPE Public Art, SCAPE 8: New Intimacies, Christchurch, 3 October to 15 November 2015
• Lisa Reihana (Ngāti Tū, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāpuhi), in Pursuit of Venus [infected], 2015, exhibited at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2 May to 30 August 2015 
• Shannon Te Ao (Ngāti Tuwharetoa), Two shoots that stretch far out, 2013-14, exhibited at the 19th Biennale of Sydney: You Imagine What You Desire, 21 March to 9 June 2014.