Ka Awatea, A New Dawn surveys the work of Senior Māori artist Emily Karaka, a descendant of the many iwi [tribes] of Tāmaki Makaurau, the Auckland Isthmus, Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Kahu and Ngāti Hine. Largely self-taught, Karaka is an abstract expressionist, a colourist and an occasional assemblage artist. Born of the politics of colonisation, her work is personal, passionate and anchored in Māori rights related to the Treaty of Waitangi, the founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Described by Karaka as ‘political landscapes’ or ‘self-portraits personal in the landscape,’ her paintings embody her ongoing advocacy for iwi justice and equity. Recognised for their expressionistic intensity, saturated colour palette and often-ambitious scale, her canvasses carry messages of Māori sovereignty, social justice, care for the environment and love for her family. 

Karaka is of Ngai Tai ki Tāmaki, Te Kawerau ā Maki, Ngāti Tamaoho, Te Ākitai Waiohua, Te Awhiwaru, Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Tāhinga, Ngāti Kahu and Ngāti Hine descent. Ka Awatea, A New Dawn is the first major exhibition of the artist’s oeuvre. It highlights the immediacy of her practice as a political artist; her influence as an iwi leader with cultural knowledge and tribal history carried within her work; and her power as a painter. The exhibition brings together selected works drawn from public and private collections, across her five-decade career, alongside new work commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation.

 Emily Karaka: Ka Awatea, A New Dawn is curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, and Megan Tamati-Quennell, of Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Mutunga, Taranaki, Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe and Waitaha descent, co-curator of Sharjah Biennial 16, with Amal Alkhaja, Assistant Curator, and Abdulla Aljanahi, Curatorial Assistant at Sharjah Art Foundation.