Leo Bensemann made this portrait when he and Rita Angus were neighbours. The friends occupied adjacent studio flats in a Cambridge Terrace house here in Ōtautahi Christchurch owned by the painter Sydney Lough Thompson, Bensemann sharing his with Lawrence Baigent. They all used the same kitchen and bathroom, and often entertained together. As artists, it was a creative and stimulating environment. “Both our studio doors were thrown open”, Baigent recalled. “Doors were never locked or shut.” Bensemann and Angus frequently made portraits of each other – some flamboyant, others more introspective, like this one. They are fascinating records of two strong personalities and their complex friendship.

(Dear Shurrie: Francis Shurrock and his contemporaries, 8 March – 13 July 2025)

Zina Swanson’s precise, yet poetic painted drawings call attention to the delicacy and vulnerability of nature. Plant matter, insects and other tiny objects she collected over several years take fresh life in brushstrokes that range from feathery to forensically precise. Zina’s interest in her personal – and our human – relationship with the natural world led her to imagine a strange form of cross-species rehabilitation, where wilting forms are supported, a cutting grows the feet of a bird and processed timber receives new prosthetic roots.

(Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection, 6 August 2022- 21 July 2024)

Zina Swanson’s precise, yet poetic painted drawings call attention to the delicacy and vulnerability of nature. Plant matter, insects and other tiny objects she collected over several years take fresh life in brushstrokes that range from feathery to forensically precise. Zina’s interest in her personal – and our human – relationship with the natural world led her to imagine a strange form of cross-species rehabilitation, where wilting forms are supported, a cutting grows the feet of a bird and processed timber receives new prosthetic roots.

Zina Swanson’s precise, yet poetic painted drawings call attention to the delicacy and vulnerability of nature. Plant matter, insects and other tiny objects she collected over several years take fresh life in brushstrokes that range from feathery to forensically precise. Zina’s interest in her personal – and our human – relationship with the natural world led her to imagine a strange form of cross-species rehabilitation, where wilting forms are supported, a cutting grows the feet of a bird and processed timber receives new prosthetic roots.

Zina Swanson’s precise, yet poetic painted drawings call attention to the delicacy and vulnerability of nature. Plant matter, insects and other tiny objects she collected over several years take fresh life in brushstrokes that range from feathery to forensically precise. Zina’s interest in her personal – and our human – relationship with the natural world led her to imagine a strange form of cross-species rehabilitation, where wilting forms are supported, a cutting grows the feet of a bird and processed timber receives new prosthetic roots.