Sriwhana Spong (born 1979) graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts with a BFA in 2001. Her earliest public exhibitions were in artist-run and not-for-profit spaces throughout New Zealand, in Australia and Germany. In 2003 she started working with a new commercial gallery, the Anna Miles Gallery, and had her first solo show there in 2003. Following this was the success of her solo exhibition Muttnik in 2005 and its subsequent review. Muttnik’s follow-up work Nightfall was awarded the Contemporary Art Award at Waikato Museum in 2005.