Reuben Friend (Ngāti Maniapoto,Ngāti Pākehā) is a Wellington-based artist, curator and writer whose practice bridges customary Māori knowledge and contemporary global art discourse. Raised in Māngere, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Friend holds a degree in Māori Visual Artsfrom Toimairangi School of Māori Visual Arts at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa (2006)and a Master of Māori Visual Arts from Te Pūtahi a Toi, Massey University(2009). His curatorial career spans senior roles at City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi, where he was Curator Māori-Pacific Art (2009–2013), Pātaka Art +Museum in Porirua, where he served as Director (2015–2021), and international appointments including Exhibitions Manager at Logan Art Gallery in Brisbane. As Director of Pātaka, he oversaw one of Aotearoa's most visited regional culturali nstitutions, stewarding its annual programme and leading the museum's earthquake-strengthening and renovation campaigns. His own art practiceencompasses painting, photography, and digital media, with recent work including the acrylic-on-canvas series Captain Clerke & the Unknown Māori(2024–2025) and the Non-Fungible Taonga series exploring pounamu and Polaroid imagery through NFT frameworks.

‍

Friend's influence extends internationally through landmark curatorial projects and a significant body of published writing. He hasco-curated major exhibitions including Naadohbii: To Draw Water, an Indigenous water-sovereignty project that toured Canada, Australia and Aotearoa(2021–2023); the Pan Austro-Nesian Arts Festival at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Art, Taiwan (2021); and Here: Kupe to Cook at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney (2020). His essays appear in publications such as Becoming Our Future: Global Indigenous Curatorial Practice (2020), Lagoonscapes:Bodies of Water (2023), and exhibition catalogues for artists including Shane Cotton, Sandy Adsett, Wi Taepa, and Wayne Youle. Friend currently serves as Co-Chair of the Indigenous Curatorial Collective (Toronto, Canada),Committee Member of Te Haerewa Māori Advisory Board for Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, and Member of the Wellington Sculpture Trust Arts Advisory Committee — roles through which he continues to advocate for Indigenous curatorial sovereignty and the elevation of Māori artistic voices on the worldstage.

‍