14 Facts About Cheryll Sotheran

Dame Cheryll Beatrice Sotheran was a New Zealand museum professional.

Cheryll Sotheran was the founding chief executive of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and was credited with the successful completion of the museum, considered the largest international museum project of the 1990s.

Cheryll Sotheran was educated at St Mary's College in Auckland and graduated from secondary teachers' college in 1968.

Cheryll Sotheran went on to complete a master's degree in English at the University of Auckland in 1969, then undertook further study in the Art History department at that university.

Cheryll Sotheran lectured in Art History at Auckland University and while in the city, she was a founding member of the Feminist Art Network, working with artists and curators who included Juliet Batten, Elizabeth Eastmond, Alexa Johnston, Claudia Pond Eyley, Priscilla Pitts and Carole Shepheard.

Alongside her administrative work Cheryll Sotheran formed close relationships with local Iwi forming ideas of community that would be critical to her thinking in the future.

Cheryll Sotheran brought with her from the Govett-Brewster a sense of the contemporary that shaped both the exhibition programme and purchasing for the collection.

Cheryll Sotheran was responsible for setting up the relocation of the gallery from Logan Park to a central city site in the Octagon.

In 1992 Cheryll Sotheran was appointed founding chief executive of the nascent Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Cheryll Sotheran considered that exhibition formats could play a pivotal part in this approach and that they should be provocative, dramatic and attractive rather than play a set educational role.

Cheryll Sotheran weathered several controversies during her tenure at Te Papa, including ongoing criticism of the display of the national art collection and significant public protest when Tania Kovats' Virgin in a Condom was exhibited at the museum in an exhibition of work by the Young British Artists in 1998.

Cheryll Sotheran considered that by calling Te Papa 'Our Place' the museum had opened itself up to angry criticism of the way the Catholic faith was being treated by the institution.

Cheryll Sotheran resigned from Te Papa for health reasons in 2002 and went on to become sector director of creative industries at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

Cheryll Sotheran battled health issues until her death in Auckland on 30 December 2017, from undisclosed causes, aged 72.