The extraordinary exhibition Ralph Hotere: Ātete (to resist) provided Ōtautahi Christchurch audiences with a truly remarkable opportunity to experience artworks by Ralph Hotere at first hand. Ralph was one of Aotearoa’s most talented artists and, significantly for Christchurch, two of his most notable works, Godwit/Kuaka (1977) and Black Phoenix (1984–88), were shown for the first time in the city.

We're all so saddened to hear of the death of Ralph Hotere yesterday.

Ralph Hotere's recognition as a Member of the Order of New Zealand in the New Year was a fitting tribute to an artist whose work has truly reflected social, political and environmental issues relating to New Zealand and the wider international community throughout his career.

The Sangro series, begun in 1962, is a memorial to Ralph Hotere's brother Jack, who fought with the Maori Battalion and whose grave lies among those of hundreds of other young soldiers at the Sangro River War Cemetery on Italy's Adriatic Coast.

This article first appeared in The Press on 28 March 2007

Among the highlights of the Christchurch Art Gallery's drawing collection is Drawing (KO WAI KOE?) by Otago artist Ralph Hotere. Produced in 1977 Drawing (KO WAI KOE?) illustrates Hotere's development from his formal geometric approach found in his earlier work of the late 1960s and early 1970s towards the more expressive manner he developed throughout the 1970s and 1980s.