IBA Stage: Sharjah Biennial 16 – Megan Tamati-Quennell

Megan Tamati-Quennell (Photo: Ola Thorsen, US Embassy New Zealand)

IBA Stage: Sharjah Biennial 16
June 10, 2025 (Tuesday)
1:00 pm (Sharjah/GMT+4)

As part of our series introducing the curators behind Sharjah Biennial 16 to carry, we turn to Megan Tamati-Quennell, a key figure in the field of Indigenous curatorial practice. With a career spanning more than three decades, Megan Tamati-Quennell has dedicated herself to building sustained platforms for Māori and First Nations voices across institutional, academic, and artistic contexts.

She is of Te Ātiawa, Ngāi Tahu and Kāti Māmoe Māori descent. Her curatorial approach is grounded in the articulation of Māori knowledge systems and in nurturing contemporary Indigenous art as a mode of cultural sovereignty and continuity.

Tamati-Quennell has held curatorial posts at the National Art Gallery and Te Papa in Wellington, as well as at the Govett Brewster Art Gallery & Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth. In 2024, she was awarded the title of Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her contribution to Māori and First Nations art, a recognition of both her scholarly rigor and her advocacy for artists and communities.

Currently she is a PhD candidate at Monash University, her research areas include Māori modernism, Māori women artists from 1930 to the present, and Indigenous art in transnational contexts.

Join us on June 10 for the second session of our IBA Stage event dedicated to SB16, where Megan Tamati-Quennell and fellow curator Zeynep Öz will discuss the processes, politics, and poetics that shaped their contributions.

Stay tuned for more news from us on this upcoming IBA Stage event and keep following communications on the Sharjah Biennial here.

To have the possibility to hear and discuss with the individuals behind biennials has been a key component of what we believe IBA can offer to our members and the wider public and we value your participation through our live streams. As always IBA Stage events are meant as a moment to hear about a project through its makers and have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A session at the end of the presentation.

Click here to register for the second part of the event!

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