Ana Iti

Ana Iti (born 1989) is a New Zealand contemporary artist.

Biography

Iti was born in 1989 and is of Te Rarawa, Ngāi Tūpoto, Ngāti Here, and Pākehā descent. Her fine arts education includes a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture from Ilam School of Fine Arts (completed by 2012), and a Master of Fine Arts from Massey University in Wellington (completed by 2018). She grew up in Blenheim.

Career

Iti works with artistic mediums of sculpture, video and text. With her work Iti investigates connections across language as a practice, learning experience and concept, and environments (often connected to her personally). Her practice involves "shared and personal history-making."

Residencies and publications

• McCahon House resident – July–September 2020
• Summer resident in Blue Oyster space – 9–29 January 2016
• Languages of Design – panel discussion with Matthew Galloway, 11 May 2024, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington

Exhibitions

• He wāhi pāoro, 10 May – 7 June 2025, combines her videos I am a salt lake (2024) and A dry and windswept body (2025), Stepdown, Hastings.
• Whakaruruhau, 2024, aluminium and shade cloth – site specific sculptural installation exploring the relationship between the kahukura, ongaonga, and surrounding environment.
• A resilient heart like the mānawa, 2024, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
• I must shroud myself in a stinging nettle, 17 December 2022 – 23 April 2023, dual-channel HD video in colour with sound, steel and gardener's frost cloth sculpture, and accompanying text, City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi – includes Roharoha (commissioned and initially exhibited by Gus Fisher Gallery in Turning a page, starting a chapter (30 April – 9 July 2022)) and Shelters.
• I am a salt lake, 9 September – 22 October 2023, research images and video, The Physics Room – includes footage of Kāpara-Te-Hau (salt lakes in Te Tau Ihu), various abstract diagrams on glass, and text in the first person.
• How should we talk to one another?, 27 February – 23 May 2021, digital display and text, Te Uru Gallery – delves into writing of Māori woman authors and learning language.
  • Essay on A dusty handrail on the track, 2021.
• The Old and the New, 2017, text on front of Nursery building at Christchurch Botanic Gardens, in collaboration with Gemma Banks.
• Heavy to Hold, 2–27 February 2016, sculpture and video, Blue Oyster Art Project Space Te Tio Kikorangi, Dunedin.

Awards

Iti won the Walters Prize 2024 with her sculptural and sound installation A resilient heart like the mānawa. She won the Grace Butler Memorial Foundation Award at Ara in 2022.