The Springboard Award for Visual Arts, funded by the Edgar Family.

Cora-Allan Lafaiki-Twiss is a visual artist and traditional maker. After being encouraged by her Niuean grandparents to make hiapo – the Niuean practice of barkcloth painting – she has mobilised generations of Niueans to connect with and experience a previously dormant artform. Using purist hiapo-making methods with materials such as ata bark, mangrove inks and pandanus seeds, she is placing the artform back into the community highlighting the noticeably botanical forms of Niuean Hiapo.

As an AUT graduate with a Masters in Visual Art and Design and a background as a technician and curator, Cora–Allan’s deeply considered practice has caught the attention of major galleries, museums and collectors. Despite this, her work remains firmly rooted in community, and she fluidly moves between institutional and community spaces. Her confident artistic voice translates to a strong presentation of work, and she is already gaining significant momentum in Aotearoa and abroad.

Cora-Allan Lafaiki-Twiss will be mentored by 2008 Arts Foundation Laureate Shane Cotton ONZM

Shane Cotton’s painting practice examines Māori and Pākehā cultural histories to prompt conversations about nationhood and biculturalism, and he is recognised as one of New Zealand’s best-known contemporary painters.

Statement from selection panel: "Cora-Allan Lafaiki-Twiss is a multidisciplinary artist of Maori and Niuean descent has an arts practice that recalls the importance Hiapo making and knowledge. She is a visual artist, curator and writer who is making insightful and unique statements through the visual language of Hiapo and one that distinctly her own."