Professor Robert Jahnke (Ngai Taharora, Te Whānau a Iritekura, Te Whānau a Rakairo o Ngāti Porou) is Aotearoa New Zealand’s most influential Māori visual arts educator and is a tireless ambassador for Māori and Indigenous art and culture. He is an internationally recognised artist, sculptor and designer. Robert has fundamentally altered national and international understanding of Māori art through his contributions to Māori visual culture and Indigenous arts scholarship. Over the last 30 years, he has challenged and celebrated conceptual and historical positions of Aotearoa society through his politically charged, but widely accessible art. Robert’s work is recognised as a key part of the contemporary Māori art movement, which explores the complex past, present and future implications of colonialism on Māori society. He is the founder and leader of the Toioho ki Āpiti Programme at Massey University, establishing the first bachelor of Māori visual arts at a time when no other Māori arts programme existed within universities. This programme has seen numerous undergraduate students and over 80 postgraduate completions, many of whom are now working at the forefront of contemporary Māori art. Toioho ki Āpiti is also recognised as a pioneering teaching programme integrating te reo Māori and tikanga Māori, supporting the growth of the Māori art movement in New Zealand. Robert’s notions of ‘trans-customary’ arts practice have expanded approaches to understanding how Indigenous arts are produced in national and international contexts. His work has raised the international profile of Māori art on the world stage, as well as highlighting critical issues faced by many Indigenous communities across the world. He was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2017.