Cora-Allan Wickliffe
(Ngāpuhi, Tainui, Alofi and Liku)
Cora-Allan WickliffeCora-Allan is a multidisciplinary artist of Māori and Niue descent, originally from Waitakere.
Cora-Allan is a multidisciplinary artist of Māori and Niue descent, originally from Waitakere. In recent years her practice has focused on her efforts to revive the art form of Hiapo, prior to this she completed her Masters in Visual Art and Design in Performance from AUT (2013), also receiving a AUT Postgraduate Deans award for her research.
She has exhibited her work throughout Aotearoa and internationally including Australia, Niue, England and Canada. Her work is a part of major collections including The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland War Memorial Museum and The Chartwell Trust.
Cora-Allan was recently awarded a McCahon House Residency (2021), the Creative New Zealand Pacific Heritage Artist award (2020) and received Annual Arts Grant funding to focus full time on her Hiapo practice in 2021. Her newest project Encountering Aotearoa opens at Dunedin Public Art Gallery in August, 2023 and will tour Aotearoa till 2025.
Cora-Allan Wickliffe shares her love for Niuean hiapo and the works she created with her sister Kelly Lafaiki in memory of their beloved late grandfather Vakaafi Lafaiki. The revival of Niuean hiapo is a tradition that will be passed onto her children and the next generations to come.
Video by NoSix.
“It’s energy giving to me! Hiapo is a practise that fills me with energy, and I’m happy when I make it because my son enjoys watching me make my work. If I can have my little one sitting on my lap while I beat (hiapo), it’s a pretty good day!”
- Cora-Allan Wickliffe