E ngā rau rangatira mā, e kui mā, e koro mā, e huihui mai nei i tēnei wā, tēnei aku mihi māhana ki a koutou. Nau mai, haere mai rā ki Te Whare o te Kawana Tianara o Te Whanganui-a-Tara.
I wish to begin by specifically acknowledging: Jessica Palalagi, Director of The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi; Chelsea Winstanley and Hamish Edgar, Co-Chairs; Darcy Nicholas, Dame Lynda Topp, on behalf of The Topp Twins, Ann Robinson, and Witi Ihimaera – our 2026 Icon Awards Whakamana Hiranga recipients; and Ana Iti – 2025 Harriet Friedlander Resident.
And to all distinguished guests gathered here this evening – tēnā koutou katoa.
Whakamana Hiranga recognises not a single work or moment of success, but a lifetime of imagination, discipline, and courage. As these medallions pass from one artist to another, they carry with them whakapapa and profound mana – honouring what has been given, and entrusting that legacy to those who follow.
Tonight, we remember four Icons whose medallions pass forward: Maurice Gee, Sir Donald McIntyre, Greer Twiss, and Fred Graham. Each changed the possibilities of their art form and left an enduring mark on our cultural consciousness.
We also gather in the shadow of recent losses. Sir Sam Neill once said: ‘If it looks like fun, and it looks like quality, then I’ll do it.’ To his work, Sir Sam brought not only depth, but also generosity, decency, curiosity, and warmth. He showed that an artist could belong to the world, while remaining grounded in this place and its people.
Tonight, we also remember Dame Jools Topp. I’ll never forget my own first encounter with Jools and Lynda as a student at the University of Auckland, walking along Queen Street, which had been brought to a standstill. The gathered crowd was bursting with laughter and applause – captured by the presence and joy of this brilliant and fearless pair.
Dame Jools was wise, brave, funny, and deeply loved. To Dame Lynda, and to all Dame Jools’ whānau and friends, I offer my deepest sympathy.
It was the philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch who wrote: ‘Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real. Love, and so art and morals, is the discovery of reality.’
Here, I’m sure, lies the deepest gift of the arts. They draw us beyond the boundaries of our own experience, and ask us to attend fully to another life, another way of seeing: another truth. They do not remove difference; they help us find one another across it – through a story, an image, a voice, or shared laughter one morning on Queen Street.
Ana Iti has said: ‘The arts provide a space for us to think about things in different ways, to experiment with new thoughts, and to dream.’ Ana, I congratulate you on receiving the Harriet Friedlander Residency. I hope New York offers challenge, discovery, and freedom to extend your thoughtful and poetic practice.
And to our new Icons – Darcy Nicholas, the Topp Twins, Ann Robinson, and Witi Ihimaera – my warmest congratulations.
Darcy – for more than half a century, you have helped shape contemporary Māori art through your bold and visionary work, and the institutions and relationships you have built around it. Grounded in the sustaining forces of wairua and tūpuna, your contributions have helped ensure toi Māori is encountered on its own terms – with confidence, mana, and space for future generations to soar.
Ann – your mastery of cast glass fuses technical innovation with extraordinary sensitivity to form, light, and the natural world. You have expanded the expressive possibilities of the medium, creating a body of work that is technically assured and arrestingly beautiful.
There is particular poignancy in the fact that the medallions and pins through which we honour our Icons were designed and made by your late husband, the sculptor John Edgar. His hand is present in the objects now used to honour your work – a fitting convergence of two lives devoted to material, form, and artistic excellence.
Witi – you have transformed the landscape of New Zealand literature by placing Māori lives, histories, and ways of seeing at its centre, and carrying those stories across fiction, theatre, opera, ballet, and film. Through the reach of your deeply humanist work, you have opened doors for generations of writers, and helped Aotearoa understand itself with greater honesty, complexity, and imagination.
Dame Lynda – you and Dame Jools, as the Topp Twins, created a unique form of performance that could make a whole country laugh, while also asking it to take a good hard look at itself. Confronting questions of fairness, identity, and belonging, your work has helped so many New Zealanders feel seen, and helped many others to see their fellow citizens more clearly.
The title ‘Icon’ may suggest distance or grandeur. What strikes me tonight is just the opposite: the way these artists have all drawn us closer – to an idea, to this place, to one another. That is an extraordinary gift. As Governor-General, on behalf of all New Zealanders, I thank you for all you have given to the spirit and soul of this country, and congratulate you most warmly on this honour.
Finally, my sincere thanks to The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi for ensuring that our artists are supported and celebrated – and that the gifts they give to Aotearoa are recognised, cherished, and carried forward.
Kia māia, kia manawanui, kia kaha e koutou. Kia ora huihui tātou katoa.