Matt Pine, 'F' Series no.2 - Impressions on Gate Pā (excavations), 1979 - 2021 (realised by the Parekōwhai studio), installation image, Gallery 1, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Image: Bryan James.
Exhibition
8 Oct 2021 — 13 Feb 2022
Swallowing Geography
Matt Pine, Shona Rapira Davies, Kate Newby, Ana Iti
Kate Newby, I can't nail the days down' (detail), 2018 - 2021, installation image, Gallery 2, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Image: Bryan James.
Matt Pine, F series no. 4 - Te Porere variation (stockdale, palisade - open, closed space), 1979, installation image, Gallery 1, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Image: Bryan James.
Matt Pine, 'F' Series no.6 - Te Awanga Pieces (levels, layers, stratified, pits), 1979 - 2021 (realised by Bryan James and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery), installation image, Gallery 4, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Image: Bryan James.
Ana Iti, the woman whose back was a whetstone, 2021. Installation image, Gallery 3, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Image: Bryan James.
Kate Newby, I can't nail the days down' (detail), 2018 - 2021, installation image, Gallery 2, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Image: Bryan James.
Kat Newby, EVERY MOMENT OF THE DAY, 2021, and All there is of me, 2021, installation image, Open Window, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Image: Hayley Bethell.
Shona Rapira Davies, Ko Te Kihikihi, 2021, installation image, Ramp Corridor, Len Lye Centre. Image: Hayley Bethell.
Shona Rapira Davies, Ko Te Kihikihi, 2021, installation image, Ramp Corridor, Len Lye Centre. Image: Hayley Bethell.
Swallowing Geography is an exhibition that explores our relationship with land and place. It is about how we absorb the landscape and our built environment and how we ingest or take in the histories of sites and places both explicit and oblique.
Watch below for Ana Iti's insightful artist talk. Hear from Ana regarding her work the woman whose back was a whetstone, the inspirations, research and thoughts behind the finished product.
The show is centred on the particular whenua (lands) and histories of Taranaki. It also encompasses ‘peripheral situations’, the ephemeral ‘nature of interactions’ and the ‘overlooked everyday.’ They are notions that are realised through the responses of four leading contemporary New Zealand artists.
Matt Pine (Te Ātiawa, Te Atihaunui-a- Pāpārangi and Ngāti Tūwharetoa), Shona Rapira Davies (Ngāti Wai ki Aotea), Kate Newby (Auckland, New Zealand, Texas and New York, USA) and Ana Iti (Te Rarawa), were invited to create site responsive works for the exhibition.
Integral to Swallowing Geography is also an acknowledgement of Ngāti Te Whiti iwi as haukaingā and mana whenua of Ngā Motu (New Plymouth).
