News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Anti-Hate Satire Jojo Rabbit Trailer Out

Anti-Hate Satire Jojo Rabbit Trailer Out

The first trailer for Taika Waititi’s new “anti-hate” satirical film, set in Nazi Germany, has been released, featuring the much-loved Māori-Jewish actor and director playing a paunchy Adolf Hitler, Stephanie Convery writes for UK…

Artist Gill Gatfield Smashes the Glass Ceiling

Artist Gill Gatfield Smashes the Glass Ceiling

New Zealand artist Gill Gatfield is profiled in the latest World Sculpture News magazine, with particular focus on her latest work created in glass, which was exhibited in February this year at Silo Park…

Don’t Quit Day Job Says Author Brandy Scott

Don’t Quit Day Job Says Author Brandy Scott

New Zealand-born Dubai-based radio presenter and author Brandy Scott sits down with reporter Ashleigh Stewart, who writes for The National, to talk about her critically-acclaimed first novel, and about her second one already in…

Denis Smith Living on Images of Liquid Light

Denis Smith Living on Images of Liquid Light

A decade ago, New Zealander Denis Smith was working in Auckland and living the high life. “I was killing myself working, trying to sustain lifestyle,” he says to Wired journalist Michael Hardy. “It developed…

Meet Gold Coast-Based Rapper Saint Lane

Meet Gold Coast-Based Rapper Saint Lane

There’s something about Saint Lane that’s impossible to ignore, according to GQ Australia which features the New Zealand-born, Gold Coast-based rapper who has dropped a total of three tracks to date – a discography…

Sandy Myhre Promoting Women in Motoring Industry

Sandy Myhre Promoting Women in Motoring Industry

It seems the motoring world is only now taking notice of female car ownership. Statistics suggest women play an influential role in as much as 85 per cent of car purchases across the globe….

Drilling Down Into Mine Culture With Simon Denny

Drilling Down Into Mine Culture With Simon Denny

What does a tiny, nearly extinct bird with a sweet song have to do with the labour practices of a monolithic global corporation? Everything, New Zealand artist Simon Denny tells Stephanie Convery who writes…

Taika Waititi Gives Vampire Film New Life

Taika Waititi Gives Vampire Film New Life

In-demand director Taika Waititi reveals to The Hollywood Reporter what it took for him and fellow New Zealander, Jemaine Clement to develop a TV show based on their 2014 film, What We Do in…

Cabaret Performer Sophie Koh at Centre Stage

Cabaret Performer Sophie Koh at Centre Stage

Profoundly inclusive and spectacularly eclectic, cabaret is what ‘theatre could have been if it hadn’t started building walls’. “Growing up, I never saw anyone who looked like me in the arts industry,” New Zealand-born…

Jordan Rakei’s Third Album Shifts Focus

Jordan Rakei’s Third Album Shifts Focus

“Jordan Rakei, the New Zealand-born, Australia-raised collaborator who quickly made a name for himself within London’s varied music scene, has shifted his focus on Origin,” according to Exclaim! reviewer Anna Alger. “Rakei’s third record…

Artist Jono Rotman On Guns, Mongrelism, San Francisco

Artist Jono Rotman On Guns, Mongrelism, San Francisco

Newly published on online art platform Contemporary HUM, artist and arts writer Emil McAvoy interviews US-based, New Zealand photographer Jono Rotman on his new work ‘Matériel’ which depicts a series of privately owned…

Berlin-Based Simon Denny Opens Show in Hobart

Berlin-Based Simon Denny Opens Show in Hobart

New Zealand artist Simon Denny, who lives in Berlin, talks to The Art Newspaper’s Tim Stone about his latest exhibition, Mine, which has just opened at Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona). The…

Ten Things You Need to Know About Benee

Ten Things You Need to Know About Benee

This 19-year-old Kiwi rules, according to i-D writer Alim Kheraj in a profile of Auckland pop star Benee (formerly Bene) for the British magazine. Pop is amazing when it kind of confuses you, when songs…

Latest Alan Broadbent Trio Album Well-Received

Latest Alan Broadbent Trio Album Well-Received

“When listening to , you may imagine that your ears have become just a little sharper. That’s how hearing Alan Broadbent’s piano playing often strikes me anyway,” UK jazz critic Dave Gelly…

Serenely Sustainable Architecture in the Rangitikei

Serenely Sustainable Architecture in the Rangitikei

American design website, Inhabitat features a sustainable Taihape property. Auckland firm Copeland Associates Architects have unveiled “a gorgeous prefab timber cabin designed to provide a soothing off grid escape for those…

Inside Peter Jackson’s Personal Memorabilia Vault

Inside Peter Jackson’s Personal Memorabilia Vault

Like many directors, New Zealander Peter Jackson isn’t just a movie-maker, according to Empire magazine correspondent Ben Travis. Like the dragon Smaug, Jackson has his own stash of gold – a collection of some…

Sculptor Neil Dawson Reflects on Public Art

Sculptor Neil Dawson Reflects on Public Art

Noted New Zealand sculptor Neil Dawson has been a force in contemporary sculpture for over 30 years, Jessica Stewart writes for American art site, My Modern Met. Most well-known for his large-scale public sculptures,…

Sydney’s Carriageworks Hires Blair French

Sydney’s Carriageworks Hires Blair French

The international search for the next leader of Carriageworks in Sydney has ended with the appointment of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s New Zealand-born Blair French as the inner city arts precinct’s new chief…

At the Organ with Sarah Mary Chadwick

At the Organ with Sarah Mary Chadwick

Sarah Mary Chadwick’s artistic output has been an ideal combination of quality and quantity, according to Robert Ham who Skype interviews the New Zealand musician for monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, Paste. Chadwick…

Taika Waititi Explains Our Sense of Humour

Taika Waititi Explains Our Sense of Humour

New Zealander Taika Waititi is now one of Hollywood’s hardest working filmmakers with a slew of projects in development, writes Joe Utichi, who interviews the director for entertainment news site, Deadline. Wherever he goes…

Aldous Harding Entices with Taunts and Teases

Aldous Harding Entices with Taunts and Teases

In an article for Singapore’s The Straits Times, Yeow Kai Chai reviews Auckland-born singer-songwriter Aldous Harding’s latest album, Designer. “Any attempt to pin down Harding is a foolhardy venture, especially when the songstress is not predisposed to…

Kimbra Hits Mexico on World Tour

Kimbra Hits Mexico on World Tour

New Zealand-born Kimbra was in Mexico recently performing as part of her worldwide Primal Hearts tour. Alejandro Mancilla interviewed the singer for GQ México. A resident of New York City for the past three years,…

Jane Campion Casts Cumberbatch and Moss

Jane Campion Casts Cumberbatch and Moss

After a decade of being absent from the big screen, Academy Award-winner New Zealander Jane Campion is readying her first feature since 2009’s Bright Star. Campion will next direct her own adaptation of Thomas…

Hidden Tattoos: Bradley’s Puaki Portraits Conceal Maori Markings

Hidden Tattoos: Bradley’s Puaki Portraits Conceal Maori Markings

New Zealand photographer Michael Bradley’s Puaki exhibition shows what Maori people would look like without their facial tattoos. Daily Mail reporter Ben Hill explains how Bradley used a digital camera to take photos of…

Then & Now: NZ’s Natural Beauty on Display in Turn-of-the-Century Photos

Then & Now: NZ’s Natural Beauty on Display in Turn-of-the-Century Photos

A series of turn-of-the-century photocroms, published by MailOnline’s Tim Stickings, reveal the beauty of the New Zealand landscape a hundred years ago. The colour photographs of the country’s mountains, lakes and fjords “were reproduced…

Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe Interviews Taylor Swift

Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe Interviews Taylor Swift

New Zealander Zane Lowe “tried his best to pull some more Easter eggs out of Taylor Swift during her midday interview on Apple’s Beats 1 Live show”, according to a Billboard story, “but even…

An Interview with Biljana Popovic

An Interview with Biljana Popovic

Newly published on online art platform Contemporary HUM, arts writer Eleanor Woodhouse interviews artist and designer Biljana Popovic on her 12-month Visual Arts Residency at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, and her wider…

JP Pomare’s Debut Rated Highly by The Guardian

JP Pomare’s Debut Rated Highly by The Guardian

“Excellent characterisation and the ability to conjure cliquey, insecure adolescent world … add up to an immersive and exciting read,” Laura Wilson writes in a review of New Zealand author JP Pomare’s debut…

Aldous Harding’s Designer Dances on Different Feet

Aldous Harding’s Designer Dances on Different Feet

Aldous Harding is happy that her music makes people feel uncertain. The New Zealand-born singer-songwriter recalls a special moment when somebody confessed to her that Designer, Harding’s third record, made them question their taste. “That…

Journalist Mark Saunokonoko Sheds Light on Maddie

Journalist Mark Saunokonoko Sheds Light on Maddie

‘Maddie: A Door Marked Closed’ about the disappearance of three-year-old Madeline McCann is the latest investigation by Sydney-based New Zealand journalist Mark Saunokonoko. ‘Maddie’ debuted at No 1 on Australia’s iTunes podcast charts in…

Design Lover’s Guide to New Zealand

Design Lover’s Guide to New Zealand

New Zealand’s natural splendour is renowned, but aesthetes are now making the voyage to check out a burgeoning architecture scene based on sustainable and indigenous materials. Charu Suri investigates for a feature in Architectural…

Patriot Star Michael Dorman Took a Risk and Won

Patriot Star Michael Dorman Took a Risk and Won

“Amazon’s Patriot is a spy show, a comic drama, an epic test of its protagonist’s will a boldly cinematic tale told occasionally through song, and perhaps the best…

Stefania LaVie Owen New Hollywood Star

Stefania LaVie Owen New Hollywood Star

Young actress Stefania LaVie Owen, 21, from New Zealand stars in The Beach Bum alongside Matthew McConaughey and will appear in a Netflix show later this year. Owen talks to the The New York Times…

Challenging Pacific Diets on TV with Robert Oliver

Challenging Pacific Diets on TV with Robert Oliver

A new reality TV cooking show, Pacific Island Food Revolution, aims to help reverse the trend of dietary-related health problems. Filmed in Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and Vanuatu and expected to air across the south…

New Book Honours Artist Ian North

New Book Honours Artist Ian North

“Ian North – curator, academic, artist, and writer – is rightly honoured as an Australian living treasure in from the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA),” Diana…

Home Truths With Jazz-Leaning Popster BLAKE

Home Truths With Jazz-Leaning Popster BLAKE

“BLAKE is a New Zealand-born songwriter who has navigated her way to the UK, finding a new home in London’s dense network of creative communities,” Robin Murray writes for Clash magazine. “Along the way she’s…

UMO Brings Intimate Rock Feel to Oregon Gig

UMO Brings Intimate Rock Feel to Oregon Gig

Ruban Nielson, New Zealand-born singer and guitarist of Unknown Mortal Orchestra excitedly addressed the sold-out crowd at the WOW Hall, in Eugene, Oregon. “What’s up, Eugene? You alright?” Unknown Mortal Orchestra (UMO) brought a…

Scottish Opera’s Alex Reedijk the Company’s Saviour

Scottish Opera’s Alex Reedijk the Company’s Saviour

In 13 years, New Zealander Alex Reedijk has pulled Scottish Opera back from the brink, turning it into a thriving company that takes risks on stage and serves the community, from the youngest to…

Swiss Give Artist Judy Millar First Survey Show

Swiss Give Artist Judy Millar First Survey Show

Since attracting the Zurich-based Galerie Mark Muller 17 years ago, the Swiss have embraced New Zealand artist Judy Millar’s wildly colourful art with its untamed brushstrokes, and given the North Shore born-and-raised artist her…

Big Names to Speak at Film Summit in Auckland

Big Names to Speak at Film Summit in Auckland

New Zealand filmmakers Niki Caro, Philippa Boyens, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and US film producer Charles King will headline global screen inclusion summit, Power of Inclusion, which will take place 3-4 October in Auckland. Mulan…

Sarah Mary Chadwick’s Latest is Otherworldly

Sarah Mary Chadwick’s Latest is Otherworldly

“The mix of New Zealand-born singer agony and the hope of the organ she’s playing makes for a compelling listen,” according to Kory Grow in a review of Chadwick’s new song,…

Author Heather Morris Discusses New Novel

Author Heather Morris Discusses New Novel

After delivering one of last year’s biggest bestsellers with The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Te Awamutu-raised Heather Morris is ready to reveal Cilka’s Journey as a follow-up. Morris recreated the experiences of Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian…

An Interview with Dame Jenny Gibbs

An Interview with Dame Jenny Gibbs

Newly published on art platform Contemporary HUM, HUM’s own editor Pauline Autet speaks with Dame Jenny Gibbs about the forthcoming Venice Biennale and Dane Mitchell’s project for the prestigious international exhibition. As the commissioner…

K.J. Apa & Maia Mitchell Make The Most Of The Last Summer

K.J. Apa & Maia Mitchell Make The Most Of The Last Summer

Netflix has just “released the trailer for The Last Summer” featuring Maia Mitchell and K.J. Apa,” writes Tyler Aquilina in an article for Entertainment Weekly. “The Last Summer follows a group…

Patriot Star Michael Dorman Took a Risk and Won

Patriot Star Michael Dorman Took a Risk and Won

“Amazon’s Patriot is a spy show, a comic drama, an epic test of its protagonist’s will a boldly cinematic tale told occasionally through song, and perhaps the best…

Susan Te Kahurangi King On Show in Chicago

Susan Te Kahurangi King On Show in Chicago

The term “outsider artist” is big enough to include a creative person without classical training – and a silent artist, New Zealander Susan Te Kahurangi King, 68, who communicates only through the mysterious pictures…

Rose Matafeo To Star In BBC Three Sitcom

Rose Matafeo To Star In BBC Three Sitcom

Rose Matafeo is to star in BBC Three sitcom Star Struck, which follows a twentysomething woman living in London as she tries to work out life and love. Jay Richardson reports for

Tā Moko as Much about Māori Identity as Art

Tā Moko as Much about Māori Identity as Art

The “unusual and pioneering exhibition” Māori Markings: Tā Moko, on until 25 August at the National Gallery of Australia, is curated by Crispin Howarth, and explores and documents tā moko over the past 250…

What We Do In The Shadows “Has Bite”

What We Do In The Shadows “Has Bite”

“Taika Waititi’s cult mockumentary has arisen on the small screen with the same mix of gravity-defying slapstick and endlessly amusing squabbles,” writes Charles Bramesco in a review for The Guardian.…

Hong Kong Basel Showcases Painter Imogen Taylor

Hong Kong Basel Showcases Painter Imogen Taylor

This year, Art Basel in Hong Kong featured 242 galleries from 35 countries and territories, with a booth set up by Auckland gallerist Michael Lett featuring Whangarei-born painter Imogen Taylor. According to American online…

“Nothing Consoles You Like Despair”

“Nothing Consoles You Like Despair”

Newly published on online art platform Contemporary HUM, artist, writer, and curator Boaz Levin unpacks the work of Berlin-based artist Richard Frater, exhibited in Germany and New Zealand in the last few years, most…

Singer Kelsey Karter Is Only Getting Started

Singer Kelsey Karter Is Only Getting Started

“A raw rock n’ roll outbreak of ecstasy and intimacy, ‘What U’ asserts Kelsy Karter, 24, as a genre-defying talent everyone deserves to hear,” according to Mitch Mosk, editor-in-chief of music journal Atwood…

Singer Paula Parore Channels Aretha Franklin

Singer Paula Parore Channels Aretha Franklin

New Zealand-born Paula Parore will perform a captivating tribute to songstress Aretha Franklin in Kalgoorlie-Boulder next month, but the singer’s professional career has not always hinged on the performing arts. A self-confessed sports fanatic, Parore…

Tamaryn’s Voice Channels Newfound Intensity

Tamaryn’s Voice Channels Newfound Intensity

In the Los Angeles apartment of New Zealander Tamaryn – one of the most underrated artists in the world of gothic-synthpop – a TV screen is always on a loop featuring classic ‘80s music…

New Zealand Artwork That Really Makes Its Mark

New Zealand Artwork That Really Makes Its Mark

Tā moko is the traditional Māori art of marking the skin. It is very different from a tattoo and is considered a great cultural privilege. Australia’s National Gallery’s curator, Pacific Arts, Crispin Howarth, says,…

Acclaimed Artist Lisa Reihana Exhibits in Adelaide

Acclaimed Artist Lisa Reihana Exhibits in Adelaide

In partnership with the Adelaide Festival, the Samstag Museum of Art unveiled four dynamic exhibitions in February including one from New Zealand-born artist Lisa Reihana. Reihana’s panoramic video ‘In Pursuit of Venus ’ subverts a…