Lemontra-Malia

Lemontra-Malia brings together new works from Yvonne Todd and Edith Amituanai. Yvonne and Edith are both highly regarded senior artists who are deeply clued into photographic history, committed educationalists and aware of the power imbalance between the subject and the photographer. 

Yvonne Todd was born in Auckland, where she lives and works. Yvonne received a BFA majoring in Sculpture from the University of Auckland in 2001 and the following year she won the inaugural Walters Prize. In 2019, Todd received an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumi Toi Laureate Award. Yvonne's work has been in numerous exhibitions including her 2014 major retrospective at City Gallery Wellington, Creamy Psychology. Most recently Yvonne has exhibited her suite of images Personal Mythology at Tauranga Art Gallery. Yvonne has worked with McLeavey Gallery for over 20 years.  

Edith Amituanai is a New Zealand-born Sāmoan photographer working from the suburb of Ranui, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. In 2007 Edith was the inaugural recipient of the Marti Friedlander Photography Award, and the following year she was the first Walters Prize nominee of Pacific descent. Her first major survey exhibition, Double Take, opened in 2019 at Adam Art Gallery. In the same year she became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to photography and community. This is Edith’s inaugural exhibition with McLeavey Gallery.