Born and educated in Dunedin, Sir Grahame Sydney began his professional career as an artist in 1974. One of New Zealand's most significant and enduring artists, he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004 and was knighted in 2021 for services to the arts. Working across egg tempera, oil, watercolour, lithography, etching and photography, Sydney's work is held in major public galleries and museums throughout New Zealand, as well as private collections internationally. His major exhibitions include Regions of the Heart, which toured New Zealand public galleries from 1999 to 2002, and Grahame Sydney: Down South. Recent Paintings 2001–2011 at Pātaka Art + Museum. In 2026, Milford Galleries presents Close to Home, the first of a two-part survey of Sydney’s work, featuring paintings spanning five decades of his practice. 

Sydney has twice travelled to Antarctica as a guest of the New Zealand Government, resulting in the photographic publication White Silence: Grahame Sydney's Antarctica. He is the author of, or a major contributor to, numerous publications including The Art of Grahame Sydney, Grahame Sydney Paintings: 1974–2014, Timeless Land, Landmarks, Promised Land, and Grahame Sydney's Central Otago. His painting Moonrise on the Maniototo was presented by the New Zealand Government to Nelson Mandela on behalf of the people of New Zealand. Since 2001, Sydney has lived and worked in Central Otago.