Lily Aitua Laita (b. 1969) is an artist and art educator in New Zealand. Laita is of mixed Pākehā and Māori ancestry, as well as of Samoan descent. Laita is known for using Māori, English and Samoan texts in her paintings.
Laita graduated with a Batchelor of Fine Arts from the Elam School of Fine Arts in 1990, and completed her Masters in Painting in 2002. [1] She taught at Wanganui Polytech and Western Springs College, Auckland. [2]
Laita has exhibited extensively in New Zealand and internationally including Te Moemoea no Iotefa (1990/1991), Bottled Ocean (1993/1994) and Vahine (2003).
She has been part of major group exhibitions including the Samoa Contemporary touring exhibition which opened at the Pataka Museum and Gallery in Wellington 2008 followed by the Sarjeant Gallery, Wanganui and Tauranga Art Gallery in 2009.