Sofia Minson

Sofia Minson’s art has been exhibited and collected globally for nearly two decades.

The Auckland based painter draws inspiration from her mixed Ngāti Porou Māori, Swedish, English and Irish heritage. In 1984, 12 weeks after Sofia was born, her father’s engineering work took the family from New Zealand to Samoa to live. In later years they moved to Sri Lanka and then China. Immersion in these cultures opened her eyes to the world. On returning home to New Zealand as a teenager, Minson sought to reconnect with this land. She began painting contemporary portraits and landscapes overlaid with symbols and meaning from ancestral proverbs and cosmology. This strengthened her link to her Māori roots in particular.

Art is Minson’s vehicle to explore our shared human evolution. She is constantly awed by recurring themes in storytelling and visual symbols from diverse people, cultures and spiritual traditions from around the world.

Minson has created large-scale public artworks and been featured in documentaries. She has won three national art awards including the Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Award and is a four-time finalist in the New Zealand Portrait Gallery's Adam Portraiture Awards.