Lonnie Hutchinson was born in Auckland, New Zealand and is of Māori (Ngāti Kurī ki Ngāi Tahu), Samoan (Faleilili) and European descent. Throughout her career as an artist, she has worked in sculpture, installation, painting, film, and performance. She is best known for her sculpture and installation works which often draw upon her Pacific Islander heritage and address themes of gender, sexuality and colonisation.

She earned a Diploma in Textile Printing from the Auckland Institute of Technology in 1992, a Bachelor of Arts in 3D Design from Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland, in 1998 and a Diploma of Education from Christchurch College of Education in 1999. She has taught art and art history and theory at institutions such as Unitec Institute of Technology and the University of Canterbury. She also taught Contemporary Indigenous and Aboriginal Art at Griffith University, Brisbane.

L. Hutchinson is best known for her cut-out artworks that use materials such as black builder’s tape, vintage wallpaper, acrylic, steel and aluminium. The cutouts draw inspiration from arts traditionally crafted by Indigenous women throughout the Pacific like weaving, siapo and tivaevae. She often incorporates Māori motifs known as kōwhawhai and koru patterns. Typically, the artist suspends these works from the ceiling which allows for light and shadows to interact with the artworks. The fleeting and changing light and shadows honour the Samoan philosophy of va, or the space that exists between places, things, people and connections across time. One such cut out work is Milk and Honey (2012), a triptych crafted out of black builder’s tape. The artwork depicts a female character to whom the artist refers as “Black Pearl”. The figure is a symbol of Indigenous female empowerment and represents a menacing shadow over colonial patriarchy. Apart from her cutouts, the artist also produces watercolours in black ink. These works often depict the female form or other representations of gender expression and examine the implications of colonisation on Indigenous people’s sexual and gender politics.

Additionally, L. Hutchinson has created numerous large-scale public art commissions throughout New Zealand. These works importantly assert an Indigenous presence and histories in spaces such as universities, natural landmarks and government buildings. One of these works, Hoa Kōhine (Girlfriend) was commissioned by the Christchurch Art Gallery in 2018 and celebrates the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand. It also honours relationships between women and traditional women’s craft. The motifs on the digital print billboard reference both European settler lace patterns and Māori weaving motifs.

Throughout her career, L. Hutchinson has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally and has become one of the leading Māori and Pacific artists of her generation. In 2024 she received the Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi My ART Visual Arts Award. In 2015 she received the Contemporary Pacific Artist Award by the Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika Awards. Her artworks can be found in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the Auckland Art Gallery, Christchurch Art Gallery and Queensland Art Gallery, amongst others.