Shared futures _{by Alessia Belsito-Riera}

Unfolding as a whakapapa – layered and evolving – Reclaimed Land: Tāngata, Tiriti, Taiao weaves a portrait of the whenua (land) through images that highlight personal, ancestral, and collective relationships with the environment.

New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pukenga Whakaata’s exhibition brings together bold new artworks that explore deep and enduring connections between people and the land until the 8^th of February, while remaining grounded in Aotearoa under te Tiriti. Just as the tohorā (whale) is connected to the kauri, and water systems are vital to the regeneration of Papatūānuku, our relationships are interconnected and interdependent.

“We want people to think carefully about the land and environment that they themselves have a connection to,” guest curators Susan Ballard and Israel Randell say. “We think that across all these works is a way of relating to the environment that is connected, rather than separate. We want people to think about how by thinking of ourselves as part of the environment, we also learn to look after it.”

At the heart of Reclaimed Land are questions like, what do Tiriti futures look like? How do portraits evoke everyday actions, ritual practices, and transformations?

The artworks, which acknowledge the ongoing relationship we have to each other and to the whenua, provide some form of answer as they frame a future through acts of reclaiming and returning. They show that when whenua is kin and care is inherent, environmental futures and whakapapa regenerate.

“The artists in Reclaimed Land all speak to different relationships with the environment, whether as a form of care and kinship, or as something to protect and nurture. Many of the artworks are about close connections with the land,” the curators continue. “The exhibition includes paintings and photographs, as well as a video game and a sound and video installation. Our goal is to think about the very different ways that the land and environment can be presented. Together they paint a portrait of human relationships with the environment.”

Each artist therefore takes action for nature by telling stories of collective futures. They challenge the idea that a portrait can only be of a human image by celebrating the relationships with the environment that we form through deep passion and recognition of ancestral connections. To tell the human story of the environment, they draw attention to te taiao (the natural world) through the creative work of balance and restoration, defence, protection, and nurture.

By pausing to reflect and restore, reclaim and reveal, Reclaimed Land opens a space to imagine a future shared by tāngata, taiao, and Tiriti. Together, the artworks remind us that to tend to the land is to tend to ourselves.