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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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