John Puhiatau Pule is a self-taught, highly original artist who draws on Pasifika traditions, expressionism and a visual language attuned to his writing. Since 1994, Gow Langsford Gallery, in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, has been his principal dealer. His works have been exhibited in major institutions world-wide and there are significant holdings in all the major New Zealand art galleries, and also in the Australian National Gallery, the Queensland Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Scotland. As well as producing numerous collections and pamphlets of poetry, he published two novels — the shark that ate the sun (Penguin, 1992) and Burn my Head in Heaven (Penguin, 1998) — and, with Nicholas Thomas, the ground-breaking volume Hiapo: Past and Present in Niuean Barkcloth (Otago University Press, 2005); Thomas also edited Hauaga: The Art of John Pule (OUP, 2010), which accompanied the major touring exhibition Hauaga (Arrivals): John Pule (2010–12). Having travelled extensively in the Pacific, including to Raoul Island as a participant in the Kermadec art project, John moved from Auckland back to Niue in 2015, re-establishing himself on family land at Liku. He continues to travel and exhibit widely.
