The first show of Season 2, Explicit, is now open. It places paintings by Emily Karaka from her 2015 Settlement series and from the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, NIRIN, in conversation with photographs from Ngahuia Harrison's ongoing Coastal Cannibals series.
Emily Karaka on their Settlement series: "For Explicit, two works from NIRIN are presented alongside two paintings from my 2015 Settlement series. The Settlement works respond to land claims, confiscations, and Treaty settlement processes in Tāmaki Makaurau, where I have lived all my life, and the Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Deed, which provides collective redress for the thirteen iwi and hapū of Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau, referred to as the Tāmaki Collective. Treaty claims, land issues, and kaitiakitanga have formed the core of my work for many years."
Ngahuia Harrison on their Coastal Cannibals series: "I’ve been working on Coastal Cannibals for the past three years and I’m constantly adding to it. The series focuses on the Whangārei Harbour, Whangārei Te Rerenga Parāoa, and the heavy industry established on and around the place, including residential housing developments. The heavy industry are places like the oil refinery, the Portland cement works, the Limestone works, the marinas—all these things gobbling up our environment and our moana."
The show runs until Saturday 27 August. You can read about the bodies of work and their histories here. Harrison recently spoke to Dale Husband about Explicit on Waatea News.
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