Exhibitions
Events
On display
Tivaevae in Practice
Grace Ngaputa Pera Matirita [chrysanthemum] c.1958. Tivaivai tataura. Collection of Pera family, Christchurch
Grace Ngaputa Pera Untitled early 1950s. Tivaevae manu. Collection of Pera family, Christchurch
Talk
Past event
Meet in the exhibition
Free
Join Tamapua Pera, Stephanie Oberg and Nina Oberg Humphries in a discussion about Cook Islands tivaevae in Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania.
As members of the Ōtautahi Cook Islands community, they will talk about their relationship to tivaevae as an art form from the point of view of a maker, writer and artist. Learn about the significance of these beautiful quilts in Kuki Airani life and how they come into being in the world.
Tamapua Pera comes from a family of tivaevae makers who have loaned cherished pieces for the Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania exhibition.
Writer and curator Stephanie Oberg is part of the FIKA writers' collective and a board member of The Physics Room project-space in Ōtautahi Christchurch.
Nina Oberg Humphries is an artist whose work explores her dual Pacific and Western heritage, and is the 2020 University of Canterbury’s MacMillan Brown Pacific Artist in Residence. Through the use of traditional Polynesian art forms combined with elements of popular culture she seeks to convey issues of gender, identity, and social politics.
Related reading: Pasifika
Exhibition
Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania
30 May 2020 – 3 July 2022
Experience the Gallery’s collection from the perspective of our place in Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, the Pacific Ocean.
Commentary
A Perspective on Pacific Art in Christchurch
Pacific art is one of the more internationally successful and innovative sectors of New Zealand’s art industry, but Pacific artists in Ōtautahi have struggled to be a visible part of the city’s cultural landscape. Due to our small population and distance from the Pacific art capital that is Auckland, our artists have often developed in relative isolation, relying on our Pasifika arts community to maintain a sense of cultural vitality, belonging and place within the city.
Exhibition
The Devil's Blind Spot: Recent Strategies in New Zealand Photography
Recent photography by an emerging generation of New Zealand artists.