Michel Tuffery

Michael "Michel" Cliff Tuffery MNZM[1] (born 27 May 1966) is a New Zealand artist of Samoan, Tahitian and Cook Islands descent.

[2] His mother is Samoan Bula Tuffery (nee Paotonu) and his biological father was Cook Island Tahitian.

Renowned as a printmaker, painter and sculptor, Tuffery has gained national and international recognition, and has made a major contribution to New Zealand art.

[citation needed] In 1998, Ian George curated Paringa Ou, the first major exhibition of contemporary art by Cook Island artists residing in New Zealand featuring artists such as Ani O'Neill, Sylvia Marsters, Mahiriki Tangaroa, Michel Tuffery, Jim Vivieaere, Ian George, and Kay George, the exhibition travelled to the National Museum in Fiji, Cook Islands National Museum, as well as Gus Fisher Gallery in Auckland, New Zealand.

[6] He was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to art, in the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours.

The sculpture Pisupo Lua Afe (Corned Beef 2000) , by Michel Tuffery, 1994
A large sculpture of spiky green shellfish sitting in the water, on the Wellington Waterfront.
"Nga Kina" by Tuffery on the Wellington waterfront
Memorial gateway to the RSA cemetery in Rarotonga , in the Cook Islands . Carved by Mike Tavioni and Michel Tuffery