A Moment to Share from My Heart

I’m beyond honoured (and a little bit stunned) to share that I’ve been selected as a finalist in the 2025 National Contemporary Art Award.

This prestigious award received over 480 entries from artists all across Aotearoa — from Kaitaia to Invercargill — and just 53 works were chosen for the exhibition. To have my work recognised among such an incredible group of artists is both humbling and surreal.

This year’s selection was blind-judged by Nigel Borell MNZM, an esteemed curator, artist, and writer, known for his thoughtful, nuanced perspective on contemporary art in Aotearoa. His deep understanding of te ao Māori and contemporary practice brings a beautiful integrity to the process.

As finalists, we are not allowed to share the work publicly until after the winners are announced in late July. And while I can’t show you the piece just yet, I can tell you this: it holds all the threads of who I am. Of where I’m from. Of the stillness I seek, and the whenua that calls me home again and again.

Connection to land is one of the themes I return to often in my painting — the contours of hills, the hush of light over water, the rhythm of movement through space. I believe this is something that binds us all here in Aotearoa. Whether we were born to it or found our way here later in life, we feel the land in our bones. We carry memories shaped by its light and its silence.

My painting practice is a way of holding those feelings still for a moment. So when someone says, “this reminds me of a place I once knew,” or “this makes me feel at peace,” I feel that connection reflected back — and that’s the most meaningful part of it all.

The National Contemporary Art Award exhibition opens this August at Te Whare Taonga o Waikato – Waikato Museum in Kirikiriroa / Hamilton. It will run until November, and I wholeheartedly encourage you to visit. Entry is free, and the exhibition brings together some of the most expressive and thought-provoking contemporary works being made in Aotearoa right now.

I’ll share more closer to the time, including images of the work once it’s been officially revealed.

Until then — thank you for walking this creative path with me. For every kind word, every piece of encouragement, every quiet connection made through art — I’m so deeply grateful.

— Leanne Aroha Mulder