Annette Peterson reveals trends across the ‘ditch’ at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
Qianye Lin (b. 1995), Qianhe Lin (b. 1997), The Good You, 2024. Three-channel installation, colour, sound, 10:24 min. Photo Annette Peterson.
Contemporary art in New Zealand is big news right now. The Walters Prize for the Best Contemporary Art in NZ was recently announced on 27 September. It is currently showing alongside the first-ever Aotearoa Contemporary, a new triennial contemporary art exhibition focusing on showcasing 27 new artists sourced nationwide. Last month, I was fortunate enough to be in NZ and speak to Natasha Conland, Senior Curator of Global Contemporary Art at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, about both exhibitions and what they mean to the future of contemporary art in NZ.
The Walters Prize 2024 is the most prestigious art award in New Zealand. It has awarded Ana Iti, one of four jury-chosen artists, $50,000 commemorating the union of contemporary and Maori cultures, with her work A resilient heart like the mānawa, 2024.
According to the prize, artists who have significantly influenced the nature, perception or development of contemporary art in NZ, regardless of an artist’s age, nationality or location, were selected. Juliet Carpenter, Owen Connors and Brett Graham were also chosen. Conland praises the award’s uniqueness: “Each artist brings equal attention to important and valuable discussions in the art world,” she says. “What’s particular about this award is that it’s contemporary, not just artwork per se; it’s new ideas and questions. It’s not an award for lifetime achievement,” she contends. “It’s about a body of work that’s made a difference to the landscape of New Zealand art in that period,” she declares.
The 2024 jury members were Robert Leonard, director the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; Tendai Mutambu, independent curator and writer, Auckland; Melanie Oliver, curator of contemporary art, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū; and Hanahiva Rose, curator at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The Haus der Kulturen der Welt director in Berlin, Dr Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, was the judge.
Natasha Conland, Senior Curator, Contemporary Art, at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Photo courtesy Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
A new feature of the prize was that the artists were allowed to create new work rather than enter previous work. Conland says her role was to support the artists, together with fellow curator Cameron Ah Loo-Matamua. “You get to research alongside the artists, the narratives forming in the work, and get to dive a bit deeper into just four artists,” she says. “You’re working with some of the most sophisticated artists in the country, and because it’s a prize, they take it very seriously. There’s funding towards the development of this new work. And now, with the change to three years (from two), there’s a reasonable time in which they have to develop the work,” she reflects.
Award winner Iti recreated the Räwene wharf near her cultural home in geometric form, accompanied by a soundtrack of the area. Her work considers remnant structures of industrialisation and the cultural relationship to the natural world. It explores materiality, colonialism, industrialisation and the complex relationships between people, whenua (land) and the environment.
Connor’s Land of Shadows and Doubt, 2024, is a three-part altarpiece: a typically religious-style artwork made for sitting behind an altar. His anachronistic approach includes tempera, a technique of painting with pigments bound in a water-soluble emulsion such as water and egg yolk, reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance. However, his subject matter is far from religious; rather, through painting and storytelling, Connor encourages thought on what it is to be masculine, incorporating NZ heritage and myths.
Graham works in large-scale sculpture and installation and explores histories of imperialism, global Indigenous culture and colonialism. His work, Ka Wheeke, 2024, is a sculptural exploration of the gun turret, referencing Sir George Grey’s invasion of Waikato in 1864. Graham has also had work featured in this year’s Venice Biennial.
Carpenter adds subjectivity to the narrative story of a central female character in a road movie about a driverless car. Egolane 2022-2024 involves a life-sized Mitsubishi car with artificial intelligence that questions, in part, capacity and agency. Conland says the tradition of a road movie has strong connections to NZ’s cinematic history.
Named after Gordon Walters (1919-1995), the award is now in its 11th iteration. Previously, the exhibition has utilised the gallery’s architecture, but this year, Conland says, the artists have a room each that flows into the Aotearoa Contemporary. “It is intentional that the two exhibitions coexist,” Conland says. “We intend to signal that there aren’t just four artists. There’s a whole volume of interesting practice. It’s not to undo what The Walters Prize is, but it’s to concurrently celebrate the health and vitality of New Zealand art right now,” she confidently asserts.
Aotearoa Contemporary features 27 artists and 22 new projects integrating various mediums and new art practices, such as painting, textiles, sculpture, ceramics, photography and a programme of new choreographed performances. It offers a platform for new art and ideas from NZ, emphasising emerging and less visible practitioners generating new creative ideas and forms. The artists featured in Aotearoa Contemporary are Emerita Baik, Leo Baldwin-Ramult, Heidi Brickell, Pelenakeke Brown, Jack Hadley, Ruth Ige, Hannah Ireland, Xin Ji, Reece King, Qianye Lin and Qianhe Lin, Te Ara Minhinnick, Ammon Ngakuru, Amit Noy, Sung Hwan Bobby Park, Meg Porteous, Maungarongo (Ron) Te Kawa, Tyrone Te Waa, The Killing (collective), Anh Trân, Manuha’apai Vaeatangitau, Jahra Wasasala and George Watson.
With over 19 years working in contemporary art, Conland notes that although identity politics was once strong in the ’90s, “these younger artists are much less interested in forming identity around politics. Instead, they’re playing with expressions of the self and using them to find the rub,” she elaborates. “So, you get that feeling of play as it’s only sometimes a question they want to land on and isolate about politics,” she posits.
Conland says the Auckland Art Gallery will continue to combine The Walters Prize with the Aotearoa Contemporary in the future. “We are creating two models. We’re expressing a concept of excellence in the space of The Walters Prize, and then, we are expressing the concept of diversity Aotearoa Contemporary,” she says. Both exhibitions continue until 20 October.
Ana Iti, (b.1989) A resilient heart like the Manama, 2024, Kauri timber, steel, rust, audio field recordings.
Hannah Ireland, (b. 1995), The Bridge to the Kitchen Chairs, 2024, 160 x 110 cm, Flashe and acrylic on (stitched) canvas. Photos Annette Peterson.
Brett Graham, (b.1967) Ka Wheeke, 2024, wood, synthetic polymer, paint and steel Fram, auto, damask and velvet.