Miriam Saphira, PhD, CNZM

Dr Miriam Saphira was born in 1941 in Kaimiro, Taranaki, Aotearoa/New Zealand and currently lives in Matatoki, Thames. Miriam Saphira has exhibited in many group exhibitions and has had 23 solo exhibitions in New Zealand, Australia, London, France and Germany. She has nine books published and has edited two anthologies.  Miriam was artist in residence at Hamilton in 2000.  The mediums Miriam uses include oil painting, etching, and some three dimensional work including bronzes and glass.  She has received four awards for her work in the community. In 2022 she was inducted as a Companion to the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Her work is available at Vessell Art Group - Pollen Street, Grahamstown, Thames

Artist Statement: The knowledge of our ancestors is restricted by what information is kept and passed on and what is discarded. My work has developed from research and writing to the establishment of a museum of lesbian culture. In my current art practice I use meditation in my studio, In a Jungian way I incubate and explore the myths, symbols and relationships from the depths of my subconscious. I mourn the waste of our native trees and timber and explore these themes through various mediums.

Awards & Qualifications

  • 1977 Zonta Woman of the Year Award

    1982 Media Women’s Award

    1990 Queen’s Commemoration Medal

    1993 Suffrage Medal

    2007 Life Member of NZAIDS Foundation

    2010 Lesbian of the Year Award for contribution to the community

    2016 Life Membership of GABA awarded

    2019 Life Membership of ALBA awarded

    2022 Companion to the New Zealand Order of Merit awarded

  • 1976 Diploma in Clinical Psychology

    1982 Etching Course, Auckland Society of Arts

    1981 Educational Psychology Diploma

    1990 PhD in Psychology

    1994 Certificate in Women’s Art

    1994 ASA Intermediate Certificate

Publications & Past Exhibitions

  • Adult Education - Broadsheet July 1974

    Lesbian Custody Issues - Broadsheet July 1977

    Battered Wives and Why They Stay - Broadsheet November 1978

    Incest - Broadsheet November 1979

    The Sexual Abuse of Children - Broadsheet May 1980

    Identifying as a Lesbian - Broadsheet January 1981

    Sexual Harassment at Work - Broadsheet May 1983

    Who’s That Under the Hard Hat? - Broadsheet March 1981

    Lesbian Lives: A Photographic Essay - Broadsheet May 1983

    Giving Them Heart Failure: Coming Out to Your Doctor - Broadsheet November 1983

    Making Gay Waves - Pink Triangle May 1982

    How Others See Us: Gays in the Media - Pink Triangle May 1982

    Coming Out is a Long Arduous Haul - Pink Triangle 1985

    The Sexual Abuse of Children - Treasures 1987

    Can Child Molesters Change - International Journal of Law and Medicine 1989

    Power and Control issues for Survivors - Children’s Agenda Newsletter Issue 3 1989

    The National Lesbian Health Survey Report - Lesbian Health Consultancy Group 1999

    The New Zealand National lesbian Health Survey - Journal of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association 2000

    Outness and Health - Journal of Lesbian Studies 2001

    The Sexual Orientation Cube - Journal of Lesbian Studies 2003

    How Many Lesbians Does It Take To Make A Sample - Feminism and psychology 2003

    An Evaluation of Domestic Violence Call Out Service - Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 2003

    The Butt Of Jokes; Feminist Humour Three Words An Anthology of Aotearoa/NZ Women’s Comics 2016

    A Long Search for ‘Short’ People BOLD 2016

  • Lipstick (poem) Exploding Frangipani, ed cathy Dunsford 1990

    The Highway Woman, (fiction) LIP 1991

    The Dumbells, (fiction) LIP 1991

    Promise, (fiction) LIP 1992

    Kawasaki 750, (poem) Spiral 7 1992

    Political Differences (poem) Spiral 7 1992

    The Fresh Young Woman, (fiction) LIP 1992

    Colleen Was Startled Too, Lesbian Quarterly,4,3. 1993

  • 1978 Why Battered Wives Stay, Women’s Psychology Conference, Auckland

    1979 Research in Domestic Violence in New Zealand, Conference on Violence against Women, Denver, Colorado, USA

    1982 Exhibitionism Hospital Psychologists’ Seminar

    1982 Child Sexual Abuse NZ Venereology Conference Wellington

    1982 The effects of incest, NZ Child Abuse Conference, Palmerston North

    1983 Adult sexuality and custody issues, Australian & NZ Courts Association Conference, Auckland

    1984 The association of child abuse with drug addiction, Odyssey House New Orleans, USA

    1985 A series of 55 workshops on ‘The investigation, treatment and prevention of child sexual abuse’ around NZ.

    1986 Can child molesters change? International Congress on Rape, Jerusalem, Israel

    1989 Reading and writing as therapy, Listener Women’s Book Festival

    1989 Children’s understanding of sexual orientation, World Mental Health Congress

    1989 A short history of sexual abuse investigation in NZ, World mental Health Congress, Auckland (with Heather McDowell)

    1990 Homophobia National Rape Crisis Hui, Tauranga

    1990 Child abuse prevention and early childhood education, Early Childhood Seminar Series, Auckland

    1990 Personally I am different: Understanding homophobia, Waiariki Polytechnic, Rotorua

    1991 Stopping child abuse, Workshop, Waikato University

    1991 Stopping child abuse, Family Violence Prevention, Co-ordinating Conference, Christchurch

    1991 What motivates offenders? D-Sac Conference, New Plymouth

    1991 Understanding difference: Discrimination and sexual orientation, University of Waikato

    1992 Abuse issues for foster parents, Parentline

    1992 Working with the adolescent sex offender, Youth at Risk Conference, Auckland

    1992 Stopping child abuse, Family Violence Prevention Conference, New Plymouth

    1992 Young male offenders, D-Sac Conference, New Plymouth

    1993 The New Zealand Young Person’s and Their Families Act, Third International Conference on the Treatment of Sex Offenders, Minneapolis

    1993 The Sexual Orientation cube and therapy, Third International Conference on the Treatment of Sex Offenders, Minneapolis

    1993 Children’s understanding of sexual orientation and the young sex offender, Third International Conference on the Treatment of Sex Offenders, Minneapolis

    1994 Stopping child abuse workshop, Auckland

    1996 Understanding incest workshop, Institute of Child Protection Studies, Hamilton

    1997 Prevention of child abuse in males, The Sexual Abuse of Males Conference Auckland

    1998 Power and control issues for survivors who work in the field, International Child Abuse and Neglect Conference, Auckland

    1999 The National Lesbian Health Survey, New Zealand Women’s Studies Conference

    1999 Vicarious traumatisation, ECPAT Seminar

    1999 Fluid lesbians, New Zealand Women’s Studies Conference

    2000 Art and sexuality, Hamilton Community Arts Council

    2000 Assisting client disclosure, Parentline, Hamilton

    2000 Lesbian: past, present and future, Auckland Women’s Centre

    2000 Counter transference and vicarious traumatisation, Auckland Sexual Health Clinic

    2016 The Long Search for Short People in BOLD edited David Harvey

    2016 Lesbian Humour in Three Words, edited by Sarah Laing, Indira Neville and Rachel Fenton, Beatnik Press 2016

  • I ask of You, Poetry 1978

    The Sexual Abuse of Children, Papers Inc 1981/1984

    Good Morning I’m Fine, Papers Inc 1982

    Amazon Mothers, Papers Inc. 1984

    For Your Child’s Sake Understanding Sexual Abuse, Reed Metheun 1987/93,

    The Power and the Glory, edited & designed, Papers Inc 1987

    Look Back Stride Forward, with Lyndy MacIntyre, Papers Inc 1989

    Lavender Annual, editor & co-designer with the late Sally Smith, Papers Inc. 1989.

    My Mother Taught Me, Papers Inc 1992

    Stopping Child Abuse:Raise NZ children to be non– offenders, Penguin, 1993

    A Man’s Man: A Daughters Story, Papers Inc. 1997

    Remember Us: Women who Love Women from Sappho to Liberation, Papers Inc/Charlotte Museum, 2008

    Words Don’t Come Easy, Papers Inc. 2014

  • 1993 Swimming For Our Lives, WSA Upstairs, Hamilton

    1995 Time to Ride WSA Upstairs Gallery, Hamilton

    1996 Herstory: Taking the His Out Of History, Oedipus Rex Gallery, Auckland

    1997 Taking The His Out Of History, Kukla Gallery, London

    1997 Auf Den Spuren Verlorenger Frauengeschichte, Rad und Tat Gallery, & Berlin

    1997 Emportez l’il de Illustration, Mondes Gallery, Courresan, France

    1997 Searching for Women’s History, Freida Gallery, Berlin,

    1997 Goodbye Berlin & Other Stories, WSA, Hamilton

    1998 Putting Victoria into Victorious, Artemys Gallery, Auckland

    1998 The Colonisation of Children, Aotea Centre Gallery, Auckland

    1998 Gesundheit, Rad und Tat, Berlin

    1999 Putting Victoria Into Victorious, Margot Phillips Gallery Hamilton

    1999 Putting Victoria Into Victorious, Art Works Tauranga

    2000 Wilful Waikato Women, Ida Carey Gallery, Hamilton

    2000 A Bit on the Side (oils and bronzes) Chiaroscuro Gallery Auckland

    2001 Voyage de Femme, (prints) Mondes Gallery, Gondrin, France

    2004 Identity and Desire, PPg Gallery, Auckland

    2005 Washday as Civilisation Crumbles, PPg Gallery, Auckland

    2009 Kaimiro Ruminations on a Stone, Lithographs, Taranaki Art Site

    2012 Before We Made the Butter, Margo Phillips Gallery, Arts Post Hamilton

    2013 Washday in the Print Room, Charlotte Museum Gallery, Auckland

    2013 A Little Bit of Kiwi, Mondes, Eauze, France

    2014 What a Journey, Chartwell, Hamilton

    2014 Framed, Charlotte Museum Gallery, Auckland

    2015 Naturally I Am, with performance I AM, Mondes, Eauze, France

    2017 What Ever It Is, (prints & lithographs) Mondes, Eauze, France