Tiaki Ora | Protecting Life

The Sainsbury Centre presents Tiaki Ora | Protecting Life, a new exhibition by Aotearoa/ New Zealand artist Anton Forde (Taranaki Māori, Gaelic, Gaeltacht, English). The exhibition features the first UK presentation of monumental installation Papare Eighty.one (2024), with Shiree Reihana (Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Tūteauru), consisting of 81 over-life-size figures, shown in a new site-specific configuration and incorporating one of the earliest surviving wooden Māori figures in Europe, which is held in the Sainsbury Centre’s collection.

“Papare Eighty.one comprises 81 wooden figures (pou), hand carved by Forde, presented in a defensive V-shaped formation inspired by migratory birds’ united flying formation. They wear Kākahu/cloaks woven by kaiwhatu (traditional Māori weaver) Shiree Reihana – which elevate the honour of the individual pou as well as the collective work – and a Pounamu/nephrite teardrop necklace, seen as a token of sympathy and shared emotion. 

“In addition, Anton Forde has carved a new outdoor work, carved especially for the Sainsbury Centre Sculpture Park, which includes prominent works by notable artists such as Henry Moore, Elisabeth Frink, Anthony Caro, Lynn Chadwick, Liliane Lijn and Sir Antony Gormley. Tokiwai / Water Adze (2025) is inspired by the first tools that were used by man to cut, create, build, weave, skin and dig water trenches that allow water to flow which is crucial for humanity’s survival and wellbeing. The work recognises the importance of ancient wisdom and knowledge that is often lost. The patterning is inspired by Māori, Gaeltacht, Gaelic and English carving traditions.

Tiaki Ora ∞ Protecting Life: Anton Forde is the first of five concurrent exhibitions – Tiaki Ora ∞ Protecting Life: Anton Forde, Eyewitness, Roots of Resilience: Tesfaye Urgessa, The National Gallery Masterpiece Tour: Reflections on Peace and Seeds of Hate and Hope – in a programme exploring the fundamental question, Can We Stop Killing Each Other?, which brings together works to address critical contemporary issues around humanity’s relationship with violence, and the culture that wrestles with this notion. The season is accompanied by a book, published by Kulturalis in September 2025, which features new texts by British historian and academic Joanna Bourke and Michael Steedman, deputy Pro vice-chancellor Māori | Kaiarataki at Waipapa Taumata Rau/University of Auckland.”  SAINSBURY CENTRE, JUNE 2025

Anton Forde: Tokiwai / Water Adze (2025) at Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

“I have always struggled with the fact that humans kill each other, and I consider each day that I don’t have to stare death in the face as a blessing. If we cannot shift our thinking to create rather than destroy, humanity will continue to face each other with fear. Our children deserve better.” Anton Forde.

Director of the Sainsbury Centre, Jago Cooper, said: “We are hugely privileged to be hosting such an inspiring and powerful work by Anton here at the Sainsbury Centre. Tiaki Ora ∞ Protecting Life both physically and emotionally engages visitors with the most powerful of human emotions and enables them to explore their personal responses in their own way.”

Tiaki Ora ∞ Protecting Life will be exhibited alongside works from different periods and cultures, including recognised masterpieces from European twentieth century art as well as historic works from across the globe. Artists such as Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas, Francis Bacon, Jacob Epstein, Jean Arp, Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti, Amedeo Modigliani and Paul Gauguin are displayed alongside major holdings of art from Oceania, Africa, the Americas, and Asia, the ancient Mediterranean, classical cultures of Egypt, Greece and Rome, and Medieval Europe.