Biography

Ayesha Green sustains a provocative engagement with processes of reproduction. She utilises mimicry and copying to undermine the authority of symbolic objects, questioning the authenticity of their claims to power.

Ayesha Green (Ngāti Kahungunu, Kai Tahu) is a contemporary Māori Artist. Born 1987 Ōtautahi Christchurch, she lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.

Working across painting, drawing, and sculpture, Ayesha examines histories of Māori and Pākehā representation, often questioning the particular ‘truths’ or myths they perpetuate. Her practice co-opts culturally loaded images from the history of Aotearoa—by the likes of Benjamin West, Isaac Coates, Marcus King, and Gordon Walters—and breaks them down to their pictorial elements, drawing attention to the systems of power that bestow them with value. Through subtle acts of mirroring and repositioning, she upends the supposed stability of images and their claims to a collective identity.

Works
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Mum in Rarotonga, 2018
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Nana in Rarotonga, 2018
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Mother Grandmother, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Granddaughter Daughter, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Daughter Mother, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    All of my Lovers are Immigrants (Smooth my Pillow) (diptych), 2020
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Ayesha #1, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Ayesha #3 , 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Ayesha Lukas and Jordan at Nana and Granddads, 2019
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Bathroom, 2019
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Bouquet for Jameela #1, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Bouquet for Jameela #2, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Bouquet for Jameela #3, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Bouquet for Jameela #5, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Buckingham, 2019
  • Ayesha Green, Calystegia Tuguriorum (1), 2022
    Calystegia Tuguriorum (1), 2022
  • Ayesha Green, Calystegia Tuguriorum (2), 2022
    Calystegia Tuguriorum (2), 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Catherine, 2019
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Christina, 2019
  • Ayesha Green, Corokia Buddleioides, 2022
    Corokia Buddleioides, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Dear Ayesha, Love From Joseph (13 February), 2020
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Dear Ayesha, Love From Joseph (21 March), 2020
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Dear Ayesha, Love From Joseph (9 March), 2020
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Dear Ayesha, Love From Joseph (November 3rd), 2020
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Eve Eats (Cook’s Scurvy-Grass),, 2020
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Eve Eats (New Zealand Spinach), 2020
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    For Hine, 2017
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Fossils (Things in the Ground), 2019
  • Ayesha Green, Hebe Hulkeana, 2022
    Hebe Hulkeana, 2022
  • Ayesha Green, Hebe Stricta, 2022
    Hebe Stricta, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    I thought I heard you crying in the Forest, 2020
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Imagined Communities, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    In the beginning, 2021
  • Ayesha Green, Jasmine, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Kensington, 2019
  • Ayesha Green Jhana Millers Gallery
    Kowhaea, 2023
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Kurawaka, 2020
  • Ayesha Green Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Landscape Painting, 2020
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Lukas Jordan and Ayesha at the beach, 2019
  • Ayesha Green, Metrosideros Carminea, 2022
    Metrosideros Carminea, 2022
  • Ayesha Green, Metrosideros excelsa, 2022
    Metrosideros excelsa, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Mum (May 1985), 2020
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Mum on her wedding day, 2021
  • Ayesha Green, My GST Number, 2022
    My GST Number, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    My mother (thinking of the horizon), 2020
  • Ayesha Green, My Ngāi Tahu Number, 2022
    My Ngāi Tahu Number, 2022
  • Ayesha Green, Myrtle, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Nana and Grandad, 1994 (New Zealand Gothic), 2016
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Nana on her wedding day, 2021
  • Ayesha Green, New dress from nana and grandad, 2022
    New dress from nana and grandad, 2022
  • Ayesha Green, Olearia Ilicifolia, 2022
    Olearia Ilicifolia, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Passport #1, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Passport #2, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Passport #3, 2021
  • Ayesha Green, Piper Excelsum, 2022
    Piper Excelsum, 2022
  • Ayesha Green, Pomaderris Kumeraho, 2022
    Pomaderris Kumeraho, 2022
  • Ayesha Green, Primrose, 2022
    Primrose, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Retribution (diptych), 2021
  • Ayesha Green, Rhabdothamnus Solandri, 2022
    Rhabdothamnus Solandri, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Richmond, 2019
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Scenic Beauty, 2020
  • Ayesha Green, Self-Portrait as Joseph Banks, 2022
    Self-Portrait as Joseph Banks, 2022
  • Ayesha Green, Senecio Greyi, 2022
    Senecio Greyi, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Soil from Papa (diptych), 2018
  • Ayesha Green, Solanum Aviculare, 2022
    Solanum Aviculare, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Standing at the Beginning, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    The arrival of Mere, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    The cultural biography of things, 2017
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    The Harvest, 2020
  • Ayesha Green, The Princes New Toy, 2022
    The Princes New Toy, 2022
  • Ayesha Green Jhana Millers Art Gallery
    The Rupture (diptych), 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    The science of ideas, 2021
  • Ayesha Green, The Treaty , 2022
    The Treaty , 2022
  • Ayesha Green, Two Māori Boys in an English Field, 2022
    Two Māori Boys in an English Field, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Untitled, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Wild Flowers (Things that Grow), 2019
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    A process of Dispossession, 2024
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Absolute Cruelty, 2024
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Ariel as a human, 2024
  • Ayesha Green, Coloured Pencils #1, 2023
    Coloured Pencils #1, 2023
  • Ayesha Green, Coloured Pencils #10, 2023
    Coloured Pencils #10, 2023
  • Ayesha Green, Coloured Pencils #2, 2023
    Coloured Pencils #2, 2023
  • Ayesha Green, Coloured Pencils #3, 2023
    Coloured Pencils #3, 2023
  • Ayesha Green, Coloured Pencils #4, 2023
    Coloured Pencils #4, 2023
  • Ayesha Green, Coloured Pencils #5, 2023
    Coloured Pencils #5, 2023
  • Ayesha Green, Coloured Pencils #6, 2023
    Coloured Pencils #6, 2023
  • Ayesha Green, Coloured Pencils #7, 2023
    Coloured Pencils #7, 2023
  • Ayesha Green, Coloured Pencils #8, 2023
    Coloured Pencils #8, 2023
  • Ayesha Green, Coloured Pencils #9, 2023
    Coloured Pencils #9, 2023
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Flounder, 2024
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    I dedicate this song, 2024
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Loves me, Loves me not, 2024
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Māori Rd, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Māori Rights are Human Rights, 2024
  • Ayesha Green, Mātauraka Māori is Cool, 2024
    Mātauraka Māori is Cool, 2024
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Never, 2024
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Our Obligations, 2024
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Please do not deceive me, 2024
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Plymouth and Lake Ellesmere, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Queen St, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    River Thames and View Hill, 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Scuttle, 2024
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    Sebastian, 2024
  • Ayesha Green, Stories from the Museum, 2024
    Stories from the Museum, 2024
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Ayesha Green
    The world that men have built, 2024
  • Ayesha Green, There is Power in Grief, 2024
    There is Power in Grief, 2024
  • Ayesha Green, Still life with pohutukawa, 2014
    Still life with pohutukawa, 2014
Installation shots
Ayesha Green
Good Citizen, 2021
Jhana Millers Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington
Installation image
Exhibitions
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Video