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Story: New Zealand culture overseas

Expo 70: Roy Cowan mural

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Expo 70: Roy Cowan mural

Potter, printmaker and artist Roy Cowan created a massive ceramic mural for Expo 70 in Osaka, depicting New Zealand's place in the world and its links with Japan. The ambitious work was made up of 8,000 individual tiles.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1969/4846

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Nancy Swarbrick, New Zealand culture overseas – Art, craft and design, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/45842/expo-70-roy-cowan-mural (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Nancy Swarbrick, published 26 June 2014.