FROM A GARDEN IN THE ANTIPODES

FROM A GARDEN IN THE ANTIPODES - ART AND NATURE IN AUSTRALIA AND AOTEAROA

In conversation: Rhana Devenport, Fiona Hall and Huhana Smith (Ngäti Tukorehe / Ngäti Raukawa)Sunday 13 July, 2.00pm
City Gallery Auditorium
FREE

How do we locate Fiona Hall’s work within Aotearoa? Over the last year and a half Fiona Hall has made many visits to Aotearoa to research new works and to prepare for this exhibition, including undertaking a residency at Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland University, making a garden work for the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, spending time on Kapiti island and at Otari Wilton’s Native Reserve and working with ornithological specialists at Auckland Museum and Te Papa Tongarewa. Mourning Chorus, a significant new work within Fiona Hall: Force Field, was made in response to her fascination with the effects of settlement and cultivation of Aotearoa on the natural environment.

This discussion between Rhana Devenport, Director of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Fiona Hall and Huhana Smith, artist, environmentalist and pro-active kaitiaki further explores this fertile, complex and often conflicted terrain. All three speakers have spent a significant period of their lives in Australia, and also bring this experience to the discussion.