Reflecting on the past year, there have been some truly great moments. It’s so very wonderful to now see Yona Lee’s Fountain in Transit installed in the Gallery foyer. The work was commissioned by the Christchurch Art Gallery Foundation to mark the twentieth anniversary of the opening of our building, Te Puna o Waiwhetū. We are incredibly grateful to Yona, and to the Foundation, whose generous support and commitment have allowed us to mark this important milestone in such an engaging and imaginative way.

In January, were able to share the exciting news that the Gallery has been chosen as the delivery partner for Aotearoa New Zealand’s exhibition at the 2026 Venice Biennale. We’ve chosen to work with Fiona Pardington, an artist who has had a strong presence in our collection and exhibition programme for many years. I can’t wait to see what she, and our curators Felicity Milburn and Chloe Cull, deliver for this incredible international opportunity. Huge thanks to Creative New Zealand for their endorsement of our proposal. This year also sees us commissioning the first work of art that will be purchased with funds from the Christchurch Art Gallery Foundation’s endowment. We are hugely excited by this opportunity. I can’t say too much at the moment, but we’ll let you know more in the coming months.

We have also had some difficult events. The Gallery team and I are still processing the sudden and painful loss of Mark Braunias late last year. He was a long-time friend, former art school colleague, terrific artist and much-loved part of New Zealand’s art world. Mark’s unique style and his passion for and knowledge of art, music and sport left an indelible mark on everyone that knew him. It’s hard to imagine him not being around, popping in to catch up during one of his epic inter- island road trips, and the always great conversations about Bob Dylan, the Beatles or which Rolling Stones album was best (his pick was Exile on Main Street, mine was Beggars Banquet). In 2010, we commissioned Mark to paint a temporary wall work in the corridor outside the Gallery’s Education Centre. He later returned to tidy it up following our extended closure and extensive earthquake repairs. The Children’s Charter is still there today, and despite being commissioned as a temporary project fifteen years ago, it’s still as fresh and fun as the day it was painted. Check it out next time you are in the Gallery. Cheers Mark! We also recently heard the sad news of the deaths of Philippa Blair and Rudolf Boelee, both wonderful painters with strong links to Ōtautahi Christchurch. The Gallery’s collection features fantastic works by both artists.

This quarter we’re opening two exhibitions that focus on the work of tutors at the University of Canterbury’s School of Fine Arts, past and present. In Dear Shurrie: Francis Shurrock and his Contemporaries we explore the world of Francis Shurrock, who lectured at the school, then known as the Canterbury College School of Art, from 1924 to 1949, and taught artists including Chrystabel Aitken, Jim Allen, Molly Macalister and Alison Duff. For Bulletin, the exhibition’s curators Peter Vangioni and Felicity Milburn look at the continuing influence of this popular and highly respected figure. Ini Mini Mani Mou features new work from current lecturer in sculpture at the school, John Vea. Vea’s work examines the bureaucratic hurdles that many Pacific migrants to Aotearoa must jump in order to make this country their home. Writer Lana Lopesi, herself now a migrant worker in the US, looks at John’s practice, and focuses on how his own experiences of low-paid labour have shaped his work.

In Disruptive Landscapes: Contemporary Art from Japan we examine our relationship to landscape, and the connection to national identity and societal structures. Moving-image works in the exhibition highlight similarities between Aotearoa and Japan, offering a way to reflect upon some of our accepted norms and ideals. For this Bulletin, the exhibition’s curator Melanie Oliver introduces the artists who are included in the exhibition, while Japanese curator Kumakura Haruko takes a deeper look at Japanese landscape theory, and the idea that our concept of landscape represents a way of critically engaging with political power. She focuses on the landscape of artist Jinushi Maiko’s A Distant Duet (2016) which features a large hole in the middle of a desolate place. Haruko’s essay was originally written for us in her native Japanese, and we’ve decided to run both the English translation and her Japanese original here in the magazine: a first for us. We’re excited to find new ways to connect with new audiences.

Elsewhere in the magazine, Ōtautahi Christchurch artist Oliver Perkins does the honours with a great addition to our Pagework series, and a special My Favourite comes from journalist and presenter Jack Tame, who found a familial connection in Tony Fomison’s iconic painting No!