A picture is a whole world unto itself.

Step beyond the frame and see what you find. Background Matters asks what can be revealed when we view the sitter of a portrait in the expanded field of their surroundings. In bringing the background to the fore, this exhibition subverts the hierarchy of subject and setting to consider the portraiture of Aotearoa New Zealand from a fresh vantage point.

Image: Nicolette Page, Carmen, Oil on board, 2012. Collection New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Gift of the artist

Love and marriage may be universal, but their mutual inclusivity is not. What can a wedding photograph tell us about the love shared between two people? How can portraiture better inform us about the experience of being in love? 

Authors of Aotearoa focuses on the people who have shaped our country’s literary scene.

Curated by Liz Stringer Intern 2022 Brooke Pou.

Image: Susan Wilson, Witi Ihimaera, 2014. New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata Collection.

This exhibition focuses on the unfinished portrait, which the New Zealand Portrait Gallery has numerous examples of within its collection.

Image: Leonard Mitchell, Mary-Annette Hay, 1945. NZPG Collection.

This exhibition asks: how are portraits utilised as tools of state and institutional power? and, how can portraiture be used in ways that undermine or subvert systems of power?

Image: Liz Maw, Elizabeth, 1999, Oil on board, Private collection

This exhibition celebrates the ongoing relevance and standing of the Alexander Turnbull Library, 100 years after it first opened.

Image: Gottfried Lindauer, Mrs. Ngahui Rangitakaiwaho of Wairarapa, Dec 21st 180 (ATL ref.G- 515) courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington.

Works that defy the conventions of traditional portraiture and explore ways of communicating diverse identities through portraiture.

Curated by Georgie Keyse

Image: Frances Hodgkins, Still life: Self-portrait c.1935, oil on panel, collection of the Museum of Te Papa Tongarewa

Poutokomanawa features portraits and stories of the transgender women of Carmen’s generation including Chrissy Witoko, Georgina Beyer and Dana de Milo, celebrating their role as poutokomanawa for the community.

Image: Nicolette Page, Carmen 2012, oil on canvas, collection of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata. Gift of the Artist. Photograph: Jess O’Brien

Co-curated by Chanel Hati, Talei Langley and Georgie Keyse

A look at artists’ self-portraits, which allow great freedom for artists to express their current moods, thoughts, feeling, and style. These artworks appear like diary entries, as they reflect the artist's present state of mind.

Curated by Robert Laking

Image: Alan Pearson, Self-portrait, Collection New Zealand Portrait Gallery

This exhibition asks what meaning is conveyed by the choice of clothing in a portrait?

Curated by Robert Laking

Portrait+ brings together an eclectic selection of New Zealand’s creative women, pairing their portraits with their works. We hope to expand on the notion of portraiture as a medium of likeness and identity - especially in the case of artists with their creative expression offering an alternative representation of self.

Image: Nigel Brown, Dame Gillian Whitehead at Dusky, 2008 Acrylic on board, New Zealand Portrait Gallery

Direct and uncompromising, the portraits in Eye to Eye explore the dynamics of looking shared between artist and subject, subject and viewer.