Kendal Simich (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu / Ngāti Kawau) is a New Zealand artist of Māori, Dalmatian and Scottish heritage based in Auckland.

Kendal studied at the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts, majoring in photography and graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Whilst at Elam she received the Kodak Photographic Award.

Kendal’s degree also included traditional printmaking (etching, dry point, wood cuts), painting and studies in art history, film studies and Italian film.

Kendal has had a long and successful career as a freelance photographer: art directing, curating and styling her many and varied commissions, including for publications in New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

In her editorial and fine art photographs she is well-known for her filmic-style storytelling, often featuring herself playing different characters in her images.

Kendal has exhibited her photography in several group art shows in New Zealand including at George Frazer Gallery and Artspace.

Kendal has travelled extensively and has lived in both Japan and South East Asia. In Japan she collaborated with several prominent Samurai historians and creatives, regularly photographing and performing in Samurai battle re-enactments.

Kendal also photographed and documented public and private collections of Japanese antiquity – from armour and kimono, paintings and scrolls, to gardens and architecture – creating a vast archive of work. This period in Japan has continued to have a profound influence on Kendal’s life and art.

In 2011 Kendal completed courses in Fine Art digital photographic printing, 18^th Century photographic printing processes and Japanese language at Unitec Institute of Technology.

Experiencing the raw, hands-on printing methods led Kendal back to her love of traditional printmaking, which has been her primary focus since 2019.

Kendal has also completed workshops in using Sumi ink with Max Gimblett, ink/mark-making at Brownes School of Art and the art of Māori tukutuku.

In 2020 Kendal presented a series of monotype prints in a dual artist exhibition at Studio One – Toi Tū in Auckland.

In 2024 Kendal was selected as a finalist for the prestigious WSA NZ Painting and Printmaking Award.

She continues to exhibit, working with ink and monotype printmaking.

Kendal’s artwork is held in private collections in New Zealand, Japan and the United States.

For commissions, collaborations, sales, and exhibition enquiries, please contact Kendal through the message button.