Waiheke Island artist Chris Bailey (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Paoa, Te Aupouri) studied Māori language and Māori material culture at the University of Auckland. In 2005, Chris was granted life time Toi Iho status by the New Zealand Arts Council, which recognises cultural authenticity in the work of Māori artists and is an invitation only honour.

In 2009, his work was featured in the New Zealand Room at the 53rd Venice Biennale and in 2014 he won the Wallace Arts Trust New Zealand Sculptor Award.

Chris has completed many sculptural commissions around Aotearoa. His work Pou Tu Te Rangi (2011) stands in Britomart as seven individually carved pouwhenua (carved posts). His two stone carved gourd-like vessels at the Auckland War Memorial Museum hold water at the exit of cultural exhibits, serving as hugely significant pieces for the Museum.

His work titled Tīkapakapa – Anchorstone (2023) demonstrates his masterful skill in stone carving for a range of landscapes and environments. The anchorstone is a contemporary take on the flowing waters of Tīkapa Moana, also known as the Hauraki Gulf.

Chris is also interested in the way that Māori ancestors came from the Pacific, searching for a new place that would become Aotearoa. His burnished bronze sculpture Kaitiaki (2023) speaks to this, using the concept of guardianship. Kaitiaki is about protection and is a celebration of Aotearoa.