John Bevan Ford (1930-2005)
John was one of New Zealand's leading contemporary Maori artists. His work is represented in the collections of the Museum of New Zealand, Auckland City Art Gallery, Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Dowse Art Museum and other leading international galleries.
"Across the past twenty years my work has been greatly influenced by the cloak. This originated from our family history, where the Maori and European branches each needed the flax plant to carry forward their futures. As I contemplated the mix of outcomes from the 1840s, the rope works, the trading, the marriages, the continuing migrations etc these thoughts became materialised in twisting fibers that grew into great taniko bordered cloaks. Like birds who migrated as people did the cloaks fly into the sky." John Bevan Ford, 1999.
