Shannon Te Ao Pūaotanga o te Ao 2022. Digital print. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 2023
Louise Pōtiki Bryant Te Hā o Papatūānuku (still) 2024. Single-channel video with soundtrack by Paddy Free. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 2024
Conor Clarke Travel Without Moving 2018. Digital print. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 2023
From 24 August 2024
Exploring the relationship between tākata and whenua – people and land – through Aotearoa New Zealand’s art history.
This expansive and unmissable exhibition explores the fundamental role whenua plays in the visual language and identity of Aotearoa. Acknowledging Māori as takata whenua, the first peoples to call this land home, themes of kaitiakitaka, colonisation, environmentalism, land use, migration, identity and belonging are considered through collection works, new acquisitions and exciting commissions. Painting, sculpture, ceramics, raraka, photography, moving image, printmaking and weaving by historical and contemporary artists are brought together to reveal how land has been a material and subject for art in Aotearoa for hundreds of years.
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Curator:
Peter Vangioni, Melanie Oliver, Felicity Milburn, Chloe Cull, Ken Hall -
Exhibition number:
1165
Related Events
Collection works in this exhibition
Related
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Powerful new work examining the complexities of the immigration process in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection
6 August 2022 – 21 July 2024
Making room for fresh voices, untold narratives and disruptive ideas.
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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.
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Brought to Light: A New View of the Collection
February 2010 – February 2011
Our upstairs collection galleries have undergone an exciting and dynamic redesign – the first full rehang of the collection since Christchurch Art Gallery opened in its new building in 2003.
Interview
Down the Waitaki Awa
Pouarataki curator Māori Chloe Cull talks with artist and designer Ross Hemera (Waitaha, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe) about his life and work.
Article
He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil
Our expansive collection exhibition explores the fundamental role whenua plays in the visual language and identity of Aotearoa New Zealand. Acknowledging Māori as takata whenua, the first peoples to call this land home, themes of kaitiakitaka, colonisation, environmentalism, land use, migration, identity and belonging are considered through collection works, new acquisitions and exciting commissions. Painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, moving image, printmaking and weaving by historical and contemporary artists are brought together to reveal how land has been a material and subject for art in Aotearoa for hundreds of years. Here, the Gallery’s curators each take a closer look at a key work from the exhibition that tells us something about our complex relationship with the whenua.
Director's Foreword
Director’s Foreword
As I write this it’s a cold and gloomy Ōtautahi Christchurch day and the Gallery is abuzz with a wide range of visitors, family groups and children, taking part in our school holiday workshops and programmes, and filling our spaces with activity, excitement and laughter. It’s a lovely warm place to be on a grey day. Hopefully by the time this Bulletin arrives in your hand there’s a sense that spring is arriving, trees are greening up and the days are longer once again. By then we will have recently opened our major new collection focused exhibition to replace Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection.
Commentary
He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil
Our expansive new collection exhibition explores the fundamental role whenua plays in the visual language and identity of Aotearoa New Zealand. Acknowledging Māori as takata whenua, the first peoples to call this land home, themes of kaitiakitaka, colonisation, environmentalism, land use, migration, identity and belonging are considered through collection works, new acquisitions and exciting commissions. Painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, moving image, printmaking and weaving by historical and contemporary artists are brought together to reveal how land has been a material and subject for art in Aotearoa for hundreds of years. Here, the Gallery’s curators each take a closer look at a key work from the exhibition that tells us something about our complex relationship with the whenua.