Panoho is a foundational Māori Art Historian and Māori Curator. He began his training in Fine Arts in 1980, studied art history and pioneered the first Māori University of Auckland theses in art history, an MA with 1st Class Honours with a thesis entitled 'DEVELOPMENTS in MAORI ART' (1988) and a Phd dissertation, 'MAORI ART in CONTINUUM' (2001). He worked as the first Māori art curator in a NZ gallery (Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui 1988-1991), taught one of the first degree focused programmes on contemporary Māori, Pacific and indigenous art theory (School of Design, Wellington) and was a fully tenured lecturer in Māori and Pacific art history (University of Auckland 1996-2008). From 2010 Panoho returned to his art practice and has had a number of exhibitions in Auckland, Northland and the Wellington region in public galleries and community spaces. In 2015 he published a multi-award winning book 'MAORI ART: History, Landscape, Architecture and Theory' with David Batemans, Auckland NZ. He has funding from Creative New Zealand and is currently contracted by Batemans to produce a follow up book 'MAORI ART: How to Read It'. This diverse background and consistent commitment to MAORI ART has fed his visual practive. Currently he uses his interest in native botany, art, poetry, hapū experiences and indigenous cosmologies to suggest more meaningful conversations with cultural identity, historical narratives and with the natural environment. In both the He Mauri exhibition at MODAL in 2024 and earlier the 'Tāne Motumotu' series of 2023, for example, he explores some of the ancestral wānanga ‘narratives’ surrounding native plants, birds and trees. A CV with a full list of publications, exhibitions curated and artist exhibitions available on this link