The term 'homeland' is as much about a deep sense of belonging and identity as it is a physical location. For many, it means the motu they were born in, or the country their parents, or grandparents, were born in; a place they connect with, on a visceral level, to whakapapa; whenua; motu, and moana. In Speak of homeland, the exhibited artworks are as different from each other as they are connected through the artists' own expressions of place and identity.
New works by Cora-Allan (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Tumutumu, Niue - Liku, Alofi) view Aotearoa from te moana - looking from the viewpoint of the ocean back to locations in Te Rua-o-te-Moko Fiordland and Rakiura Stewart Island. Her stylised landforms seem suspended in a calming expanse of blue, tethered by vines and branches of plants suggestive of her bond to Aotearoa through whānau and whakapapa. These landforms derive their colour palette from the land itself with Cora-Allan collecting her whenua-pigments during her travels across the motu and moana. These latest works follow on from her exhibition Encountering Aotearoa which, described by Christchurch Art Gallery, '(…) responds to the legacy of colonial mapping and recording practices, building on Cora-Allan's research into the artists and botanists aboard the Endeavour during its maiden voyage in 1769.'
Journeying to Antarctica mid-summer, William Hadwen's Negativland works convey the surreality and dislocation he experienced in a stark expansive landscape, lit by never-ending daylight. The juxtaposition of ice, and snow, and summer sun triggered an unexpected and deep-seated connection to home and, in turn, his art practice. In an illusion of space and time, William's series of works give no indication of horizon or focal point, casting the viewer adrift amongst his marks and their shadows. Curator Gregory O'Brien writes in his essay Negativland and its opposite, for William's installation Negativland: Erebus at Ashburton Gallery, '(i)n the molecular haze of the painting and the gradations of its upward dissolution, the eye becomes untethered, and the mind too.'
Alongside works by Cora-Allan and William, Speak of homeland includes works new to the gallery by guest Ōtautahi artist Kim Lowe, accompanied by Simon Edwards also of Ōtautahi, and Stanley Palmer of Tāmaki Makaurau. Each month the exhibition will be refreshed with different works rotating into the mix, offering something new to our regular gallery visitors.
