Shannon Te Ao


Shannon Te Ao is a New Zealand artist and writer of Ngāti Tūwharetoa descent. He won the 2016 Walters Prize.

Education

Te Ao completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Graduate Diploma of Teaching at the University of Auckland.

Walters Prize

Te Ao was the sole New Zealand artist selected for the 19th Biennale of Sydney in 2014. His video work two shoots that stretch far out was shown at the Art Gallery of New South Wales for the Biennale. In 2015 the work was shown at City Gallery Wellington alongside drawings by Susan Te Kahurangi King in the exhibition Susan Te Kahurangi King and Shannon Te Ao: From the One I Call My Own.
In March 2016 Te Ao was announced as a finalist for the biennial Walters Prize for the work. For his presentation in the Walters Prize exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery Te Ao showed two shoots that stretch far out in one room, and in a space leading in to the screening installed Okea ururoatia , made of living plants arranged on pallets and lit by hanging lights. He was announced as the winner on 30 September 2016; the award was judged by Doryun Chong.

Exhibitions

2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018

Interviews

An artist book, I can press my face up against the glass, was published by The Physics Room in 2014. It features essays by Tina Barton, Caterina Riva and Anna-Marie White.
A chapter on Te Ao's work is included in New Zealand writer Anthony Byrt's 2016 book This Model World: Travels to the Edge of Contemporary Art. A still from his 2014 work two shoots that stretch far out was used for the cover of the book.