Art

Big Flowers For A Wild City

Pōneke-based artist Martin Basher wanted to give Wellington a sculpture that reflects the vibrancy of the city. Big Flowers for a Wild City is the latest public art to occupy the four plinths outside Te Papa Tongarewa.

Light, shadows, sound

Daniel Beban and Tim Barlow manipulate light and turn it into sound in their highly experimental project Shadow Signals, on display at Toi Pōneke until the 15^th of May.

Art as alchemy

Anna Sisson interrogates and subverts inherited mythologies and narratives to construct a new gaze in her latest exhibition Temple of Romance, on display at William Austin Gallery until the 25^th of April.

Internal terrains

Group show Common Ground, featuring works from Amber Hearn, James Watkins, and Kirstie Ussher, meditates on internal landscapes, geographical terrains, and memory at Twentysix Gallery until the 18^th of April.

New expressions

Mitchell Manuel takes traditional Pasifika and Scottish images and reimagines them onto a digital plane to interrogate the shared histories between the two cultures. Tartan Meets Koru is on display at Toi Pōneke until the 17^th of April.

When contexts collide

Meanings shift. Objects are lifted, suspended, shaped, rebuilt. Three artists explore the transformative energy, Ihi, in their joint exhibition at Pātaka Gallery, on display from the 28^th of March to the 19^th of July.

Nourished and reflective

At Twentysix Gallery, the rituals of gathering, preparing, and sharing food, and the landscapes that hold those memories come to life in Emma Hercus’ The Foragers until the 21^st of March.

Under, Over and Across

Angela Kilford and Lisa Munnelly explore the relationship between material, maker, and making in their exhibition Under, Over and Across at Toi Pōneke Arts Centre until the 13^th of March.

Shifting strands

At National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa until the 23^rd of May, the City Gallery Te Whare Toi exhibition Recording Mauri: Moments of Light and Earth by Cora-Allan is unapologetically political, deeply thought, and imbued with earth-toned beauty.

Searching and painting

Acclaimed Vietnamese artist Đặng Mậu Tựu explores memory, identity, and belonging while offering an intimate perspective on living between Vietnam and Aotearoa in Những Miền Đất Nhớ | Lands We Remember, an exhibition at Te Whare Manaaki o Toda until the 7^th of February.

Remembrance and resistance

Whai Wahi reopens at Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery on the 20^th of January until the 29^th of March to explore works from the 1970s to present day that articulate expressions of mana motuhake, dissent, and an enduring will to engage in critical dialogue about our shared colonial past.

Stitching stories

From the 7^th of December until the 8^th of March, Tīpurepure ‘Au Vaine will transform the gallery at Pātaka Art + Museum into a living, breathing space where communal making collides with a rotating display of tīvaivai or traditional Polynesian quilts.